Gates to Infinity
by SCI-FIWIZARDMAN
Summary: ...a whole world in danger... a desperate plea for help... and one soul among many who answers that call. An adventure of excitement and hopes, a tale of friendship and dreams, and the dawn of a new age...all of this revolves around a single soul...a soul that will soon learn what it is he is meant for. This is Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity! / A novelization.
1. Chapter One: It Begins

_**Author's Note:**_So everyone, welcome to my Pokémon Mystery Dungeon fanfic: Gates to Infinity! As the summary suggests/blatantly says, this is a novelization of the main game...but with some twists to keep things interesting! I may be accepting OCs in the future (that seems to be a requirement for PMD fics these days), but for now, simply enjoy what I have to offer. I hope to see lots of fans here, as I know that the game itself had a lot lacking in terms of gameplay. Well, this is a story, so whether you're familiar with the game or not, you'll find yourself welcome here. Now then, without further ado...

* * *

**...a strange plane of eternity...the limitless fabrication of the subconscious...that mysterious plane between the realms of life and oblivion...between the limits of reality and fantasy...where literally anything becomes possible...and likely...to happen...**

**...yes...that place spanning the boundaries of time and space...that place leaping the dividing walls between dimensions...that place...deep within the mind itself...**

**...that...that is where it all began. That is how it all began. At the very least, it is how this story begins. This story...this twist of events...the plea for help...the transformation...the growth...the resolve...and the bond that grew, stemming between so many souls...but that touched one in particular. The one soul who, in these brief moments, had his life changed forever...in more ways than one...**

**...and now...the story begins.**

* * *

_..._

An entire realm of color. Such was all that seemed to exist in this odd place. Colors, awash in vibrant hues, covering nearly every visible facet of the world.

_... ..._

The colors...a mix of multitudes, but three in particular-green, purple, and blue-made themselves primarily visible. They swirled and puffed across the spectrum of sight, reminiscent of clouds, almost. The color clouds had no visible beginning, appearing to stretch endlessly into infinity...but they all seemed to be collecting at one spot. It was the only distinct feature in this place. Where all of the clouds ultimately coalesced into a single large point of light directly ahead...pure white, and radiating with an...almost mystical feel.

_... ... ..._

No true solid surface. No true sense of up or down, left or right. How far ahead that light could have been was impossible to tell, in this place where time, space, length and direction all seemed to hold no meaning. It simply existed. Floating amongst all of this...this strange mix of chaos and serenity...was a presence. A presence with no current body, no current form of any kind. A presence that, too, simply existed there. How had it arrived here? For how long had it been here? What was its purpose here? For these questions, there was no single answer...or perhaps there were no answers at all. But nevertheless, as the presence slowly began to awaken, to become simultaneously aware of itself and its surroundings, these were the questions that began to plague its mind.

_Wh-where..._

A strange light humming noise, nearly imperceptible as the presence rose from its stupor, began to fluctuate through the realm...

_Where...am I...?_

As the first complete thought was finished, a new sound entered...a light ringing noise to accompany to humming. It was all still far too quiet for this barely conscious mind to comprehend, however.

_...Is this...a dream...? Am I... Am I dreaming...?_

As this mental question was formed, something changed within the realm...a physical change, which the presence was able to see with nonexistent eyes. The light ahead of it...the pure orb of white light...suddenly grew and rippled, and the surrounding noises grew and rung out in tandem, as though in response to the presence...to _his _presence.

_...Oh! What was that?_

The movement was gone now...it had only been for the briefest of moments...but it was enough to render the curious mind alert. He now became aware of the noises and sights before him. But his focus was currently on the strange sight he had just seen...what he had just heard...it had sounded so familiar...

_I'm sure of it... That was definitely a voice. Someone...is calling to me..._

And with this conclusion, it happened again. The white orb of light before him grew and contracted repeatedly as more sounds began to fill the realm...the sounds came in response to the movement of the orb...however, this time, in addition to the simple humming and ringing, a new sound was added...one that became far easier to make out, as it formed words with a voice that was not truly a voice at all, so much as it was simply phrases appearing in his mind...

_"You... You who can now hear my voice... Might you be...a human?"_

There was no time to recover from the sudden shock of hearing a outside voice. It continued to talk to him, in that strange voice that...could not be identified in any way, save that it took an...almost begging tone.

_"If you are, then please... Listen to my plea. I want you...to save the Pokémon world. We need your..."_

The voice and sounds all cut off for a moment as a bright flash of light cut across the orb, appearing to break into the message. Then as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone...replaced by a violent surge of purple light from the orb as one word screeched from its depths.

_"HELP!"_

And just like that, the image of the orb vanished, replaced with a new sight...a dark cave. Within it, a creature...small and pink, nearly spherical, quadruped creature. It had vertically oval, shiny red eyes with two discernible eyelashes. Between its eyes was a vertically oval spot in a darker shade of pink. This shade of pink was also the color of the center of the five purple petal flower designs ornamenting much of the creature's body. Its four tiny limbs were tapered, as was its downwardly curving snout, which appeared to be largely obscuring what must have been its mouth as it could be heard panting in fright. It appeared to somehow be floating in the air as it hurried along at a high speed, as though fleeing from something...

...and that something quickly became apparent. As the vision panned over slightly, another creature came into view...a three-headed, dragon-like creature, with six thin, black wings on its back, and a terrifying expression of bloodlust on its features. On its neck was a fuchsia-colored flower-like collar which opened up to its head. The main head was a dark blue and its eyes were black with fuchsia pupils. Its hands, also black, harbored a head in each one; these heads were also blue with black eyes, and small collars on the insides of the hands. On its abdomen were two overall-like fuchsia stripes. Its feet appeared atrophied, having no claws or defined soles and two or three small toes. Its tail also sported a fuchsia stripe with a black tuft on the end of it.

The dragon-like creature released a massive roar of anger and rage as it closed in on its quarry. It slowly drew closer...the pink creature didn't look like it would be able to get away...the dragon got closer and closer...it drew back its main head, opened its toothy maw...and bore down upon-

Before the vision was complete, it cut off to white, then to black. The presence, previously in something of a trance as it observed the vision, suddenly snapped alert.

_Wha-! What was that just now?! What...what could it mean? Those Pokémon..._

Slowly, vision was restored...the presence found himself returned to the same color-washed realm from before...however...this time, instead of an orb of light...something was different...the clouds appeared to be forming together into a new shape...

_... And now there's...something fuzzy..._

Yes, the clouds were coming together into a new form...a dark, shadowy form, directly in front of him...it was fuzzy, and hard to make out, but...the outline of it looked so familiar...almost like...

_...Huh? Wait... That blurry reflection... Could that be...me?_

Then, without warning, the image shifted. It shrunk, became more round in certain areas, such as the head and the waist, and other parts almost seemed to disappear entirely, while some aspects appeared to grow out of nowhere...and all the while, he could feel a strange sensation on his own form...but when had he..?

_...! Wh-what now?! My reflection... it wavered, and then...shifted... Almost as if I changed somehow..._

As the reflection completed its transformation, and that odd feeling left him, the image became brighter...clearer...colors from the surrounding clouds began to fill in the shape of the reflection...mostly the colors of light blue, dark blue, and white...with traces of orange and yellow also coming in...slowly, the shadowy picture became hazy...then simply slightly foggy as it became easier to see, the wisps of shadow leaving it behind...and finally, with a final burst of light, the reflection became completely visible in its entirety. It was all the presence could do to keep from shouting in surprise as he saw...himself...

_N-no...no way..._

He was still bipedal at least. But now he was primarily light blue, dark blue, and white in color, just like the colors of the clouds that had filled his reflection. He had a rounded, spherical white head, with small, triangular dark-blue ears to the sides. His eyes were large, dark, and ovoid; his dark-orange nose was shaped like an oval on its side. He also possessed black speckles on his cheeks, and light blue bubble-esque features composed a collar around his neck. His torso was also light blue, decorated with a pale yellow seashell-like object in the center. His arms were small, white, digit-less and somewhat rounded, while his feet actually had discernible digits, being dark blue and flipper-shaped. Finally, he possessed a slightly plank-shaped dark blue tail and a pair of fangs that became visible as he gasped in shock.

_I-I look like...I look like...Oshawott?! But...how?!_

Before he could dwell on this further, another burst of light filled his vision. When it went away, so too had his reflection. Now, all that was visible ahead of him was those endless swirling clouds of colors...but yet...something felt different...he felt like...

...wait. He _felt. _That meant...

He hesitantly reached out with his mind for his body, to see if he would get a response...to his surprise, he did, in the form of an arm slowly rising up before his eyes. In truth, he wasn't sure if he wanted to see it, but...he did. And once again, he almost yelled out from what he saw. No hand, no fingers, no nails, not even the typical pinkish flesh he'd unknowingly grown accustomed to. Now, all that he saw was a simple white arm...that ended in a rounded tip. Nothing else. Simultaneously horrified and curious, he tried to clench his "fist"...and found that, while not what he had in mind, he was able to do something similar with his digit-less hand as it bent slightly and became sturdier. Then came the other sensations...his ears, now closer to the top of his head than to the direct sides of it, and no longer in the same shape they usually took. He found his sense of hearing to be mostly unaffected, save for the generally disorienting feeling it brought. His legs were now much shorter, while his feet were larger than before, relatively speaking. As he took a few tentative steps forward, he found that they worked surprisingly well, even if he had to waddle a bit. But most of all was an entirely new sensation...his _tail. _He found that he subconsciously raised it into the air whenever he moved around on his feet, like he was keeping it, and himself, balanced. It was an entirely new feeling, completely foreign in every way, and yet...it didn't _feel _alien to him at all. It felt as though he'd had this tail his whole life. Like grabbing hold of something as a toddler and just then realizing that this was what your hands were there for.

He cautiously took another step forward...and like stepping out of a fog, a whole new sight appeared before him. He fell back slightly in surprise at what he saw; a wide, gaping hole in what must've been the floor. Like a pit leading down into unknown depths, though...this "pit" was sky blue...tiny wisps of white could be seen through it, like actual clouds...and looking into it somehow gave a different feeling of vertigo...not of looking far down, but of being high up...but that couldn't be right...

As he slowly approached the pit and looked over the edge, he was surprised to find that he once again saw his reflection upon the surface. So the "pit" was in fact more akin to a pool...of what, he did not know. Possibly water? Somehow, he doubted it...nevertheless, he continued to examine his own reflection in the surface for several minutes. He gazed intently at it, as though expecting it to change somehow...when nothing happened after an extended period of time, he closed his eyes and sighed.

_I-I knew it...I really did turn into Oshawott...but...this is just a dream, right? This isn't actually happening...but then...why does this all feel so real...?_

In the middle of the pool, a light suddenly began to form...a light similar to that first orb of light he'd seen...but this one was much smaller, and clearly separated from the surroundings. Its appearance, along with the twinkling sounds it made, drew his attention.

_Huh? What's that light?_

He found himself taking a step forward.

_I don't know why, but... I feel as if that voice calling for help... I feel like it came from there._

Another step forward. The pool rippled slightly as his foot entered it.

_Didn't that voice say something about saving the Pokémon world?_

He took several more steps forward, bringing himself into the center of the pool, and directly before the shimmering orb of light. However, just as he drew close to it, the orb sputtered and vanished. As it did so, the entire world around him suddenly fell dark, as though a massive shadow had fallen over it. For a few moments, nothing occurred. All he felt was a terrible sense of foreboding...

Then it happened. Bright blue wisps of light came wafting down from out of nowhere, circling the pool he stood on. They began to settle onto the ground and form some sort of design...a bright blue circular design around the pool, moving and shifting of its own accord. As this was happening, the pool beneath his feet began to glow with a bright light, almost blinding him as he looked down as it roared loudly with the sound of building energy. Something was about to happen...he had to get away from here. Before he could take even one step, however, an unseen force gripped him and held him in place just as the floor beneath him erupted in an infinite beam of light, rising straight up and enveloping him entirely. he only had time to scream out...

* * *

...and when he came to, he was falling. That much, he knew right away. He barreled downwards through a multitude of white clouds, becoming wet along the way, before he fell through them entirely. Then he saw it. All of it. Below him, a vast expanse of land, in a great variety of different forms-plains, forests, mountains, canyons, lakes, deserts, all of it-extending far into every direction. To his sides, pure, empty space, save for the air that tore past him as he fell and the occasional cloud. Above him, only more clouds, including the ones he had just emerged from, but no sign of the strange portal that had brought him here.

Yes, he was in the sky. And he was free-falling toward the ground below, with absolutely nothing to slow his descent.

"UWWAAAAHHH! NOOOOOO!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as he flailed helplessly in the air. His voice was all but lost even to his own ears as the wind carried it away from him before he could hear it. He was falling...falling...and he was helpless to stop it. The ground was rushing up towards him, faster and faster. It was coming closer...closer...it wouldn't be long now...he would hit the ground, and...and...

"WHHOOAAAAAAAAHHHHH WHOAWHOAWHOOOAAAA! HEEEEEELLLLLPPPP MMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

His young voice screamed as loud as it could it the vain hope that someone, anyone, would hear him...and then he blacked out.


	2. Chapter Two: From the Skies Above

_**Author's Note: **_Hey y'all. Back again. So soon? Well, what can I say? I'm feeling the inspiration in my blood. Anyways, I'm glad to see such good reviews after only one chapter. I hope that this lovely little seed of a fanbase will grow as word spreads and more see this fic. I certainly hope. Will it happen? Only time will tell. In any case, for those of you reading this, I have a request. You are by no means obliged to do this, but would you be so kind as to ensure that you review every new chapter you read as they come out? You know, more reviews equals more people being interested in reading it, which in turn leads to even MORE reviews...so on so forth. It makes me feel fluffy and nice, okay? If you end up missing a few chapters and have to catch up on all of them, you don't have to review each of them (unless you want to) but I would still appreciate it. Now then, let's get on to CHAPTER 2!

* * *

Slowly, ever so slowly, consciousness returned to his still form. Right now...all he could really register was that everything was black...he couldn't see anything...and yet...his head hurt like mad...it made him feel so disoriented...

_Owww... Everything's spinning... Can't see... _was his first thought. And though, indeed, he couldn't actually see anything spinning, he could certainly feel his own head doing just that. He imagined that he had comical spiral shapes covering up his eyes right about now. But his head...dear lord, his head...it was pounding...

_Holy cow...some insane dream that was...I can still remember it clear as day..._

He could hear something loud, very close by from the sound of it. Yet he still couldn't make it out...the pounding in his head was too intense. It wasn't the sound of his alarm clock, that much was certain...though considering how he felt at the moment, he wouldn't have been surprised if it actually was and he was just delirious at the moment...

...those fears were laid to rest as the throbbing blood in his head began to die down (though it still ached immensely), his ears began to work properly, and he could begin to make out what it was he was hearing...very vaguely at first, but...

"...he...ome o...re yo...wake...swer me...plea..."

_Ugh...what's going on out there...?_

The voice, as it spoke, sounded female...gentle yet stern, and extremely concerned. Now becoming clearer, it spoke again.

"... H-hey! Are you OK?! Come on, wake up... Come on!"

_...someone's calling to me...but...who could be..._

With an immense amount of effort, he cracked open his eyes...and promptly shut them again, hissing quietly in pain as he ended up looking directly into the sun, past the shape of a blurry figure.

_A figure..._

Again, more carefully this time, he opened his eyes...very slowly...he allowed himself to take in the light bit by bit rather than blinding himself all at once. He could still make out the bright point of light above him, surrounded by spots of blue sky broken by high treetops and foliage...

_...but...I'm in my room...aren't I...?_

And directly above him stood...

_...Ah, I can almost make out a figure..._

It was difficult to see, as his eyes were mostly closed, making it blurry, and the sun in the background made the figure shadowed...yet still, as he continued to open his eyes, it became clearer...and it wasn't his mother. Not in the slightest. He slowly began to make out features...first a green outline...then a green, slender body...(this part alone made him worried)...yellow, curved structures that looked like a collar of sorts...an arm-or was it a leaf-with three fingers being waved in front of his face...and large, scarlet red eyes with black slit-pupils peering down at him from above...

It took a few moments for his still half-unconscious mind to process what he was seeing. It was...definitely not a human...or...was it? Was his mind playing tricks on him? After that dream...and with how much his head hurt, he didn't know...but...it didn't _feel _like he was still dreaming...the pain was real enough anyways...

...as he continued to gaze upward at the figure through hardly-open eyelids, it slowly became even clearer...and somehow...more familiar...he somehow felt as though he'd seen this creature someplace before...but he knew that was impossible...but then why did he feel like he had? Where had he seen it before...somewhere...in a...poster? No, not a poster...a...a picture yes...but of what? It was...an animal...something like that...from a...video game...right? It was called...

_... Is that-?_

The answer hit him so suddenly that he shot straight up from the shock of realization, and narrowly avoided bonking the figure on the head as she leaped back in surprise just in time. His eyes snapped open, no longer caring about the sunlight, as he took in his surroundings. he was currently in what looked to be a forest, laying on top of a solid dirt trail, hard and flat from what was likely years of use. The sun shone down brightly through the treetops, as it had been before...his eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden change...

"Hey! You're awake!" The same female voice from before said from nearby. He shook his head and groaned as the voice added, "You OK?!"

He looked over in the direction that the voice was coming from...and nearly fell backwards again (or he would have, had he not already been on his back), at what he saw. That same figure that had been standing over him was now right in front of him. He could now see it clearly, with no blur or shadow obstructing his view, and what he saw threw him for a loop. Most of its body was green in coloration, while it had a cream-colored underside. A yellow stripe ran down the length of its back and tail, and it also had yellow markings around its large eyes, extending from its eyelids. Those yellow, curved structures he'd made out earlier protruded from its shoulders and bent backwards, and give the creature the appearance of wearing a collar. In spite of being snake-like in appearance, it had fully-developed limbs...or at least what _looked _like fully-developed limbs. Its slender arms were the same green color as the rest of its body, leaf-like in appearance and had three fingers each, while its tiny feet matched its underside in coloration and had no digits whatsoever, yet it somehow managed to balanced itself perfectly on the tips. It had a large, palmate leaf with three prongs on the end of its tail.

His eyes went wide at the sight. _What? A P-P-Pokémon-! It can't be... A Pokémon is...talking to me?!_

It was true. He didn't actually remember what this Pokémon in particular was called; only that it was one. He wasn't a fan himself, per say. But he did pay attention, and he now remembered seeing an image of this very creature in a Pokémon game that one of his friends frequently played, and often made a big hype about. He also occasionally caught brief glimpses of the TV show for Pokémon-and he remembered occasionally seeing this creature there as well.

As though the fact that he was seeing what should have been a fictional creature right before his eyes wasn't enough, he also knew something else; Pokémon weren't supposed to be able to talk...right? So then...this one was?

_Wait...Pokémon..._

He slowly, almost fearfully, looked down at himself...and froze.

White, light blue, and dark blue colors. Rounded white arms and flipper-like feet, along with the plank-like tail. A seashell object adorning his stomach. And feeling around with his tongue now...fangs.

_I-I'm...I'm s-still...a-an...an... _He only barely managed to finish the thought, _...Oshawott...?_

One of the few Pokémon he actually had bothered to learn the name of, simply because he like the appearance of it, for one reason or another, when it had first been shown to him. Yes...he was still an Oshawott. It hadn't been a dream then. Not at all.

The serpentine creature before him continued to talk as he stared at himself. "You sure you aren't hurt or anything?" it..._she..._asked in a tender, yet panicky and heavily concerned voice.

Still somewhat disbelieving that a _Pokémon _of all things was talking to him, he look to his left, then to his right, as though expecting to find some other source from which the voice could be coming from, even though he'd just seen the creature's mouth move as it talked. Needless to say, he found nothing. And so he slowly looked back at the creature before him, before an idea struck.

_... Th-that's right...I somehow got turned into a Pokémon, so…I guess I can understand other Pokémon now?_

Again in the midst of his thoughts, the creature spoke. "Does it hurt anywhere? Can you hear me?" she continued to ask rapidly. Finally somewhat overcoming his own stunned silence, he shakily nodded once.

"Y-yeah…" he tried. "I… I-I'm fine…"

A look of confusion took over the creature's face after he responded. At first he was afraid she hadn't understood him, but then she spoke again. "…Really?" she asked simply as she cocked her head slightly to one side. Again, he shakily nodded his own. She was silent for a short while…before a smile graced her features and she sighed. "Whew, that's a relief!" she said, with that very emotion evident in her voice. She looked at him seriously while smiling (which was somewhat strange given those slit-pupil eyes…) and spoke again. "You know you fell straight out of the sky, right?"

This caught him off-guard…well, to be fair, the whole freaking situation had caught him off-guard, but this comment did especially. …_Out of the sky? _he thought questioningly. Then he turned and looked up. _Right… Yeah, I think…there was some kind of light… Then I think I fell for a long time… _he winced as he felt a slight windburn on his face at the memory. _Yep, definitely fell for a long time…_

He turned back to the serpent-like creature as she spoke again. "Boy, are you lucky or what!" she said brightly before smiling all the brighter. "You haven't got a single scratch after falling all that way? That's fantastic!"

He frowned. _Not to mention impossible…but then, so is me turning into a Pokémon…unless of course this is all still a dream… _he shook his head. _No, this…can't be a dream. I don't remember dreams ever feeling this real…or hurting this much, for that matter…_

The creature's voice once again broke him out of his thoughts. "I'm Snivy, by the way," she said. That was when the memory of that very name clicked into place for him. "What about you?" she continued. "What's your name?"

For some reason, at this question directing towards him, he suddenly felt confused. _My…name? That's right. My name is…umm…my name is…_

Several moments of silence passed…during which he slowly began to grow frantic on the inside. _Uh…my…my name is…is…?_

What was it? He knew he had one…it was there…but he just…couldn't put his finger on it…or paw…arm…stub…whatever!

"What's wrong?" Snivy asked him with a bemused expression. "You do know your own name, right?"

He was starting to get increasingly worried. He knew he had a name…he just knew it…but…what was it? He couldn't remember…couldn't remember…for the life of him, he couldn't remember his own name! Or…anyone's name, come to think of it! The faces, the titles, those were all there…but…the names…what were the names?!

_Did I maybe…forget them? Maybe I…hit my head or something when I fell? _As scary as it sounded, it did seem like the most likely scenario to him. It would have been quite literally impossible for him to have gotten out of that fall entirely unscathed. He supposed he was just lucky that a minor case of amnesia was _all _he got…it would have been far more likely for his head to have been smashed ope-

"Umm, _hello? _You still there?" Snivy asked, giggling slightly. "You seem awfully lost in thought."

"Ah…umm…" _Snap, I have to tell her something…but what?_ he thought desperately. _I don't wanna come out and say "I don't know". Some first impression that would be. But…I really don't know…_ Then he happened to looked down at himself…when an idea clicked. _…or do I?_

"Umm…" he hesitated. "My name…is…Oshawott," he said at last.

_Oshawott? Seriously? I know I've turned into one, but still…_that's _what I choose to say?!_

"Oshawott?" Snivy asked for confirmation. "Your name's Oshawott, huh? Well, nice to meet you!" She smiled brightly once again, though it was quickly replaced by another serious look. "But…where'd you come from, Oshawott?"

He tilted his head to one side in confusion at her question, then wordlessly looked back up at the sky again. She must've seen this, because her eyes widened and she waved her 'hands' slightly. "Well, I mean, I know you just came from the sky just now…" he turned back to her as she continued. "But I haven't seen you around here before. So I was asking where you're originally from-where your home is!" She tilted her head to the side again as though contemplating. "Of course it's pretty mysterious how you fell out of the sky like that…" she suddenly perked again. "But you can't tell me you actually live up there, right?" asked, laughing a bit.

He…_Oshawott _(for that was the only name he had to associate himself with at this point), sweated slightly.

_Ha… Well, I suppose not… _He looked up again at the clear blue sky, with multiple puffy clouds rolling across it. However, that was it; nothing else out of the ordinary was visible up there. _But even if I say I came from the other side of the sky… It's not like anyone would believe me. Not anyone normal. If there was at least some sort of hole in the sky or something, then maybe… _he frowned again. _But…I don't want to lie, either…not to the first person…_Pokémon…_that I've met here…and possibly the only one who'll be willing to help me…gah. I guess I'll just have to go ahead and spill the beans…_

He slowly looked back down again and at Snivy across from him, who was still looking at him expectantly. With a slight amount of trepidation, he nodded and started speaking.

"Right…well, uh…you see…hmm. How should I put this…uuhhh…well…I'm uh…not exactly…a…Pokémon, per say…"

Snivy just looked flat-out confused at this statement. "…what? But…you look like one."

_And here we go, _Oshawott thought glumly. On the outside however, he grinned sheepishly. "Well, yeah, I know that…but…I'm really not supposed to…I kinda woke up just now, and uh…here I was."

Snivy was starting to look extremely…skeptical? He couldn't really tell, what with the entirely different facial structure, but he imagined that was what was going on with her right now. But her eyes…somehow they didn't seem entirely skeptical at all…

"…alright then. I'll bite. If you're not a Pokémon, then what are you?"

_Point of no return… _he thought with a wince. Nevertheless, he plowed onward. "Right…ah…well…thing is, I'm…a…human." He saw Snivy's eyes visibly widen at this proclamation, but he continued. "And…well…I'm not entirely sure how I got here, exactly…but…"

From there, he proceeded to tell her everything he remembered of relevance. Everything from the beginning of his "dream" to the present. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure why he was confiding all of this in her…maybe because she just seemed so genuinely nice? And also because it didn't look like there was anyone else around…at least not for a good long distance…so no one was around to judge but her…and she really was the only one at this point who could help him…or could she? This was just some random bystander Pokémon who happened to be walking by when he fell, right? How could he be sure that she'd be able to help in the slightest? How could he be sure that she'd even _want _to? For all he knew, she'd just assume that he was crazy and bring him to an insane asylum.

Did they even have asylums in the Pokémon world?

When he was finally done explaining (after what felt to him like about _ten _eternities), he simply closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable reaction. It came pretty quickly.

"WHAAAT?!" she practically yelled once he was done. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself…and only slightly succeeded. "S-so let me get this straight… Y-you're actually a human?!" she tried to ask as calmly as she could. Oshawott had been expecting a reaction, yes…but nothing like this. Snivy continued, though. "And you got turned into a Pokémon because some voice was crying for help? So you fell straight outta the human world and into this one? Is that what you're telling me?"

It took all the courage Oshawott could muster to simply nod in response. _I-I guess it really was too much to hope that anyone would believe me, _he thought. Snivy turned away from him and closed her eyes, as though once more in thought. She was silent for a while…and so was Oshawott. He was waiting for it…to be called crazy, to be yelled at, to be either ditched out here alone or dragged to some sort of facility somewhere.

None of that came.

Snivy turned back to face him after about a minute, and nodded. "All right. Got it." She smiled. "I believe you! I believe your story, Oshawott!"

Several moments passed in silence…then Oshawott fell back again, utterly stunned by this turn of events. _What? Just like that? Without any proof or anything?! _he thought with disbelief. Snivy must've seen his expression, because she elaborated.

"Sure, I know it's a pretty fantastic story to believe…" she turned while smiling and looked off somewhere into the distance, a strange look in her eyes. "Humans don't exist anywhere except in fairy tales, or that's what I always thought."

This bit of information surprised Oshawott, but before he could ask, Snivy continued. "And it seems totally impossible that a human could just turn into a Pokémon…and fall outta the sky one day. But…you know what I think?"

Oshawott found himself genuinely curious at that exactly it was that Snivy thought that could make her believe his story like that. He quickly got his answer as Snivy turned back toward him and kept up that smile of hers. "There are lots of mysteries in the world," she said. "But the truth is that maybe…those things aren't really all that mysterious at all… Maybe they're just things I don't know about yet. And that's why they seem mysterious."

Oshawott found himself smiling for some reason. _Wow, _he thought. _That's pretty…open-minded._

Snivy looked back out to the distance again with a new look in her eyes…a mixture of passion, excitement, wonder. "That's why I want to learn about all kinds of things and see all kinda of things! I want to meet mythical Pokémon that no one else has ever seen! I want to explore ancient ruins and deep caves!" She faced him once again, never once losing that look in her eyes. "And more than anything, I want to have an adventure! That's right! I want to be a real adventurer! And that's exactly why I traveled all the way here to-" she froze suddenly…then…

"Aughhh!" she cried out, surprising Oshawott. he was about to ask what was wrong when she told him. "Argh! I forgot! The most important meeting of my life!" she almost screamed. She started running back and forth in some sort of mix of fright, impatience, and anticipation, then started running past Oshawott. She only got a few feet, however, when she abruptly stopped and grimaced. "Augh! I've got to get there ASAP, but… The path ahead looks tough. It'll be hard to make it through alone…" She grimaced. "Arghhh… What should I do…"

Oshawott cocked his head a bit at Snivy's sudden shift in behavior. He was about to ask what was going on-

"That's it!"

…when that happened.

Snivy turned around to face him, her eyes having suddenly become hopeful…and almost pleading. "Oshawott! Please! Will you come with me on the path ahead?" her expression became crestfallen as she said her next words. "My journey is so close to being over, and everything I want is so near… But if I don't hurry, I might not make it in time! I'm really not sure if I'll be able to make it through on my own."

Oshawott was taken aback by this sudden request. Were he able, he would've requested more clarification. However, just when he was about to ask, Snivy once again cut him off as she jumped forward and grabbed him by the arm. "Gahhh! There's no more time to explain! Just come with me, OK?!"

With that, Snivy began to drag/push/shove Oshawott down the road in the direction she had been initially traveling, pulling him further and further away from the spot where he'd landed. _Wh-whaaat?! _was all that he thought mentally as this unbelievably rapid chain of events went down, being pulled off by this Snivy whom he'd only just met not even five whole minutes ago.

"Wait, what?! What're you-? Where are we going? Why are you in such a rush? What's the big-?"

"No time, I said! Just come on!"


	3. Chapter Three: To the Ragged Mountains!

_**Author's Note:**_ Hello once again! A day later, and Chapter 3 is now up! Ahh...I started a new game for the sake of this fic, but it was SSSOOOOOOO worth it. I feel so happy writing this...anyways, onto the chapter!

* * *

It took them about ten minutes of walking/running/pushing/dragging/resisting/shoutin g/hurrying to emerge from the forested area they were in, entering a new environment entirely. Despite Oshawott's efforts to get more information out of Snivy, she remained resolute in her claim that there was no time to explain, only giving him brief words such as "meeting", "important", "whole life", "land", and some other word…Quag-something. He wasn't sure. It had all sounded pretty important from the way she was rushing though, even if he really had no idea what it was she was getting at. Or why she wanted his help, for that matter. Again, they'd only known each other for less than five minutes before she suddenly started dragging him off somewhere for this "important meeting" of hers. What did he have to do with any of that? She'd said it herself, he'd just fallen out of the sky randomly in front of her. Though, he had to admit, he was glad that she hadn't left him there in the woods. Truth be told, he probably would have come running after her anyways even if she hadn't asked/demanded his help with…whatever it was she needs help with. She was the only person…_Pokémon…_he knew in around here at this point. And something told him that even if he managed to wander off and find a town somewhere, they wouldn't have been as accepting of his story as this girl was.

So they continued; slowly at first, due to Oshawott's insistence toward knowing more about what was going on, but he soon just calmly accepted that it was urgent and hurried on. As the two of them, Snivy and Oshawott, continued down the path, the trees around them slowly became more and more sparse, being replaced by giant rocks and abundant cliffs as they went. More cliffs seemed to rise above and below them as they walked, implying that they were on some sort of mountain trail. There were a couple of bridges over some relatively small rivers here and there as well, most of which stretched down towards some small visible waterfall in the distance, while the rocky terrain had its own fair share of grass and plant life growing in fair amounts as well. Oshawott had to admit, he'd never seen anything like this before. He himself, back in his own world, had lived in a city most of his life. He had, of course, been out in the wilderness from time to time, usually in the form of camping or something similar. But this…this was…pure, unbridled nature. He'd never imagined that it could be so…bright and colorful. That was truly how it was. The rocks were a mixture of earthy brown and gray, the grass and tufts of weeds here and there were a bright, healthy shade of green, the water he saw was crystal clear and blue, actually making him thirsty just looking at it, and also invoking some strange desire within him to go swimming (odd, since he'd never really held any particular fondness for swimming before in his life). Along with all of this, the sky above him was one of the most beautiful he'd ever seen. Perfectly clear, with just the right amount of puffy white clouds scattered about, and the sun was warm and refreshing against his skin while also making the world around him seem almost cheery. Not like the frequent cloudy/smog skies of the big city, nor like the constantly almost burning heat of the outdoor weather sun whenever it was spring or summer. It was a whole new experience for him…and he found himself loving it.

As they approached another wooden bridge placed over a river, very close to a small waterfall and with a small red sign in the ground nearby with faded letters upon it, Oshawott took a moment to stop and take in the surroundings while Snivy continued on, unaware that Oshawott wasn't with her. Oshawott look around excitedly and took a deep breath of the cool, fresh air, allowing it to fill his lungs and rejuvenate him like he couldn't remember anything else ever doing before. He smiled.

_Wow! It's beautiful! _he thought with amazement. _It's just bursting with nature here…_

Snivy was about halfway across the short bridge when she noticed Oshawott's absence. She turned around briefly to see him still standing at the front of it. Rather than scold him, she smiled, but still said urgently, "This way, Oshawott! Come on! Hurry!"

Oshawott remembered himself and quickly caught up to Snivy, where they continued across the bridge and back onto solid ground. They went around a large boulder that looked like the result of some form of rockslide. Likewise, it looked like a dead tree of some sort had also come down with the rockslide, becoming wedged in-between the boulders. Nevertheless, it was easy for them to make their way around it.

Oshawott didn't know for certain, of course, but he thought they were making good progress…up until Snivy suddenly stopped, almost making him bump into her as he jerked himself to a halt. "Huh?!" he heard Snivy ask before she continued forward, making him curious as to what had made her stop. He looked up ahead toward where she was now…and saw it. A large gorge appeared to separate where they were from the other side of the mountain. On the path before them, a white stone bridge covered up the gap…or at least it should have. The entire middle section of the bridge was missing, from the looks of it; broken off somehow. Snivy peered over the edge, then quickly turned back to Oshawott and exclaimed, "The bridge has collapsed!"

And indeed it had. The multitude of giant rocks filling up the bottom of the gorge and the evidence of a landslide around them left little doubt as to what had caused the collapse. In any case, what was left of the bridge wouldn't be enough to get a Pokémon across…at least not this pair of Pokémon, neither of whom had any way to cross the gap.

Snivy rushed back toward Oshawott and started panicking. "What am I gonna do? How am I supposed to get there now?" she asked frantically as she started looking left and right, possibly for some way to get across. Oshawott once again felt some small twinge of annoyance at Snivy having not yet told him where "there" was. This was quickly silenced however when Snivy suddenly yelled "Ah!"

She looked past Oshawott at something, causing him to turn around and see what had caught her eye. In had been originally hidden from view by the giant boulder they'd gone around, but now that they were past it, Oshawott could see a small cave just off of the main path that looked like it led into the mountain itself. Snivy came up to him and spoke. "Looks like there's no choice but to try going through there. You ready?" she asked.

Oshawott looked back at the cave entrance and gulped. He'd never actually been inside of a cave before; he'd only seen and heard about them. Back in his own world, he would have had enough reason to avoid going inside of one with the darkness and possibility of bats alone. But here…he knew one thing about Pokémon that they, like animals, inhabited a variety of areas, caves included. And while they may, for the most part, look relatively harmless on a screen, something told him that wouldn't be the case in real life. Snivy here had turned out nice enough, but…who was to say that any other Pokémon they met would be the same? They were called "Wild Pokémon" for a reason, weren't they? Still, he didn't want to just leave Snivy on her own…both for her reasons, and for his own. She was trying to get somewhere important, and he didn't feel like leaving her side just yet when she had so readily accepted his bizarre tale. So in spite of himself, and with a slightly quivering lip, he managed to nod his head once.

"Great! Let's go, Oshawott!"

With that, Snivy rushed on ahead into the cave, Oshawott uncertainly bringing up the rear as he followed her in.

* * *

The cave was kinda dark. That much is a given, isn't it? In was inside of a mountain, so of course it was relatively dark compared to the outside. That being said, there was still some light in there on account of a few holes in the ceiling, allowing sunlight to peep in here and there. That sunlight bounced off of the surfaces surprisingly well, more or less illuminating the entire cave. It was still dank and shadowy compared to the outside, but at least they weren't blind. That had been Oshawott's primary fear upon going into this cave. Now, however, his fears were more-or-less relieved.

He and Snivy proceeded unceremoniously into the cave. The combination of damp soil within the mountain and thin beams of sunlight allowed for the occasional patch of plant life growing along the cave walls, while tiny droplets of water sometimes fell from tiny stalactites on the ceiling. Their footsteps echoed loudly ahead of them as they walked. If there were any other creatures up there, they certainly wouldn't be sneaking up on them, that was for sure. It may have just been his imagination but…the cave also seemed to be slanting upwards as they went. He didn't know where it would ultimately lead them, just so long as it led "out".

As they walked, silence reigned between them. That was fine with Oshawott; talking would have only made even more noise and given them less time to react if they were suddenly attacked. He didn't know why exactly he felt that they was such a possibility of being attacked. Paranoia wasn't a typical habit of his. However, he became comforted whenever he looked over at Snivy and saw that she too was looking around expectantly for something to jump out at them. It wasn't just him that was being affected like this, then.

It also gave Oshawott some time to think. To think about…everything, really. He'd just been turned into a Pokémon…found out that he could talk to other Pokémon (and from what Snivy had said, it sounded like there were other Pokémon out there besides them), and was now on some sudden quest with a girl, a _Pokémon _no less, whom he hardly even knew. It was almost too much for him…what the heck was going on? That dream…it had been a dream, right? He wasn't dreaming now, but he had been before…and that voice. What had that been about? It had cried for help…and then he'd seen that weird vision. That small, pink creature was being chased by the larger, black and purple one…at this point, it was probably safe to say that those two had also been Pokémon of some sort, though he wasn't familiar with them. Then, after that…he'd found himself turned into an Oshawott…looking at a weird light…and the next thing he knew, he was skydiving. Then he'd blacked out, woken up to find a Pokémon standing over him, and then all of this had happened…

When he'd gone to bed the previous night…not even that. When he'd gone to bed mere _hours _ago, he most certainly had _not _been expecting _anything _like _this._ How the heck does any of this happen? Even now, just thinking about all of it made his head swirl and ache…

Fortunately, they weren't in the cave for very much longer. About two minutes in, Snivy spoke up excitedly. "Hey, up there! I see the exit!"

Oshawott left his thoughts to simmer away and looked up. True enough, up ahead was another cave opening, through which more sunlight flooded through. He and Snivy rushed towards it and out into the open again.

They found themselves on a plateau of sorts. As Oshawott went ahead and peered over the edge, he was surprised to see where they had been before. The same path, the same broken bridge, the same boulder, everything, just now below him. He was now standing above the very cave mouth through which they'd entered; it had led into the mountain, circled up and around, and led back out onto higher ground. Truly curious. His attention was captured by Snivy's voice coming from beside, though.

"Well, we're up here now…" she said, "…but we've still got that gorge to deal with."

Oshawott looked over. It was true; while they were now higher up, the gorge still separated them from the other side of the path. The side they needed to be on. Furthermore, there were no bridges up here. Across from the ledge they stood on was a nearly identical ledge, separated from them by the gorge, that looked like it also had a cave entrance, possibly leading pack down to the main path. A large dead tree stood close to the edge of the gorge, but aside from that, nothing. Just the fall.

"How are we gonna get across?" Snivy wondered aloud. "The gap is too big to jump, at least for us…and neither of us can fly…I don't see any way to get over there. What about you, Oshawott…Oshawott?"

Oshawott had left Snivy's side and was approaching the edge of the gorge. More specifically, the large tree there. He stopped at its base and looked up curiously. The tree was large, yes…possibly large enough to walk on…and while the bark was clearly dead, it still looked pretty sturdy…if only he had a way to knock it down, then maybe they could use it to bridge the gap…but how?

His eyes wandered down the side of the tree, and came to rest on a spot near him at the base. He inspected it closer. Here…the wood looked…chipped, almost. It looked weaker structurally than the parts surrounding it. And looking back up, he saw that the tree was already leaning away from him toward the gorge itself, on account of gravity and being so close to the ledge. All it needed was a push…that was it!

With his new idea in mind, Oshawott put his 'hands' up to the base of the tree, the same spot he'd indentified previously, and started pushing. And pushing…and pushing…his feet were digging themselves into the ground, but the tree itself wasn't budging save for a small crack he saw. Snivy must've realized what he was trying to do, because she came over and added her own efforts to his. Together, they pushed as hard as they could…Snivy was noticeably weaker than Oshawott was, possibly on account of having such tiny feet and thin leaf-like hands, but she was trying. Nevertheless, even their combined efforts seemed to do little more than crack a part of the tree. Panting, Oshawott stopped and looked up.

_We need more force if we're gonna get this thing down…what to do…_

He looked back around the plateau for anything he could use to possibly ram the tree with…

_Wait. Ram…_

He took a moment to inspect the size of the plateau, specifically its length, from one end to the other. It was mostly circular in shape, and while not particularly large, it was still big enough for one of his current size to get a good running start. A new idea in mind, he left Snivy where she was and made his way over to the other side. She noticed this and spoke up.

"Oshawott? What're you doing?"

"I have an idea. Just stand back."

With a shrug, she did as she was told and moved away several steps from the tree, watching Oshawott intently. Oshawott planted his feet firmly into the ground on the other end of the ledge and turned around, looking directly at the tree. Then, without warning, he started running towards it, making sure to build up as much speed as he could over this short distance.

"HYYAAAGGHH!"

Waiting until the last moment, he turned so that his shoulder was toward the tree, aimed for that one weak spot at the base, and plowed straight into it. The effect was immediate. The section of the tree he'd hit crumbled under his force and gave way. Without the much-needed support, the rest of the tree groaned and splintered, eventually snapping completely and falling downwards toward the other side of the gorge. At first, he was afraid it would just fall down entirely and leave them with no way to get across, but the base of the tree fortunately stayed on its side of the gorge while the top of the tree fell down and broke itself onto the other side. By the time it was finished creaking, it had completely crossed the gap where the gorge was. They'd done it.

"Alright! It worked!" Oshawott yelled out in elation. Snivy was likewise delighted, as she ran up to him.

"Oshawott, that was awesome! Great work!" she praised. Oshawott grinned and rubbed the back of his head in response, much like how he usually did when he was human. Snivy wasted no time in hopping onto the fallen tree, jumping up and down a bit to test its stability, and when it supported her weight, dashing to the other side. "Alright, it's safe!" she called to him. "Come on over and let's keep going!"

Oshawott did just that, if with a bit more anxiety mixed in. One wrong step and he would have fallen onto those rocks below…that wouldn't have been pleasant. Nevertheless, he successfully made it across to where Snivy was eagerly waiting for him.

"Okay," Snivy started, "So now that that's done…" she pointed to the alternate cave entrance on their current side that he'd noted earlier, "if that first cave we went through led upwards to the top of this area, then this one should lead down, right?"

Oshawott nodded once in agreement…then realized something. "Hold on," he said. "Why don't we just…you know…climb down?" he asked, gesturing to the edge of where they currently stood, down from which was the side of the path they needed to be on.

Snivy looked at him funnily. "You serious? Why risk breaking ourselves rock climbing when we can just go into this cave and come out in the same place?"

"...umm…because it's faster…I think?"

"Maybe, but we'd have to be super careful not to slip or anything, and that would take longer. This way will be easier. Now come on!"

Snivy started off toward the cave mouth. Oshawott, understanding her line of reasoning and not wanting to make her upset by lollygagging, hurried to catch up.

Once again, they entered the cave. Technically a different one this time, but…basically the same. Same appearance, same lighting, same smell…well, a slightly different smell this time, but yeah. The main difference was that Oshawott could feel them going downwards this time instead of upwards. So Snivy had been right in her assumption. With any luck, they'd be back on the main path before too long. All they had to do was keep moving…

"So…Snivy…" Oshawott began, talking while they both kinda/sorta ran through the cave. He still felt weird referring to a physical Pokémon…but by this point, whatever. "You, uh…gonna tell me what it is you're so enthusiastic about?"

"You've already asked me that. You'll see when you get there," she responded. A smile started to split across her face. "Oh, I'm so excited!" she squealed.

"Excited? Excited for what?" he asked, not noticing the sudden additional noise of rapid flapping in the background. "What's so-?"

It hit him before he knew what was happening. Suddenly he was on the ground, along with Snivy, as a loud screeching noise, along with a sound of loud thumping and flapping, filled the air. Oshawott cringed from hitting his head hard against the floor and looked up. He gasped.

There were…dozens of them. He didn't know exactly what _they _were…but…the closest thing they resembled to Oshawott were bats…or at least their heads. Yes…they were blue, shaggy creatures, somewhat resembling the heads of fruit bats. They all had large, piggish noses, each with a single nostril in the shape of a heart. Their eyes were hidden behind two shaggy tufts of fur. They all had large mouths with a single fang, with which they were all screeching noisily, and two relatively small wings on either side of them, with which they were all flying rapidly above them, swarming out of the cave. In a few moments, it was over. They were all gone. Slowly and deliberately, Oshawott picked himself up, then went over and helped Snivy do the same. He was still feeling a bit dazed…and he could feel a bruise forming on his noggin from where he's hit a rock during his fall…but otherwise he was okay. Snivy looked fine as well, to his surprisingly large relief.

"Wh-what…what were those things?" he asked Snivy after he's helped her up.

"Those…were Woobat…" she stated calmly, dusting herself off. "They tend to live in caves like this…should've remembered that…" she looked up ahead. "…yup. See up there? Up head on the ceiling? Those heart-shaped marks? That's where they were sleeping."

Oshawott looked up at where Snivy was gesturing to and saw it. A multitude of heart-shaped pockmarks dotted the ceiling to the cave, each of them glimmering with a slightly pink residue. Snivy continued. "The noise we were making must've have woken them up and scared them. Probably accidentally hit us on their way out."

Oshawott registered these words and grinned sheepishly. "Eheh…err…sorry about that."

"Oh, it's no problem!" Snivy assured. "But right now we need to hurry. Come on!" And with that, she once more darted off further down the cave, leaving Oshawott to tail behind her.

* * *

It wasn't much longer after that when they finally emerged into the open again. The two of them quickly looked at their surroundings…and were pleased to see the stone bridge from before, only this time on the other side of them. The other land features, too, were the same, only now from the other side of the gorge. They'd done it. They'd gotten across.

Snivy jumped up and down with glee and turned to face Oshawott, expressing that exact merriment. "All right! We finally made it to the other side!" she cried out happily. "Okay, not much farther! We're almost there now! Come on Oshawott, let's give it our all!"

Oshawott couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm as they continued onward, over another wooden bridge and past some more boulders for another few minutes before they finally exited the mountainous zone of land. The path beneath them became more solid and recognizable as a road, Oshawott noted…as he looked up, and saw themselves arriving at a crossroads of sorts…

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_And we all know where they're at now! (or most of us do...meh.)

Anyways, thanks to those who have reviewed so far, both by friends and my fans alike! For now, I have a Reader Question for you all!

If you have played Mystery Dungeon games at all, which theme is your favorite of all of them? My favorites are...well, all of the final boss themes. Rayquaza from Recue Team, Dialga from Explorers, and the Bittercold from-AHP! NO SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE YET TO PLAY THE GAME!

And if you haven't played the games, what's your favorite video game theme in general?

Alright, that's all for now! Seeya next time, folks!


	4. Chapter 4: Beginning of Paradise

_**Author's Note:**_Aaaaaannnddd WELCOME, ONE AND ALL, to Chapter 4 of this marvelous little fic I started! Before we begin this chapter, I feel I should say something. I noticed that this story already has lots of followers and favorites. Absolutely loving it. Thanks to all of you. My only request is that those of you who haven't already done so please remember to drop in a review every now and then. Not only does it make more people feel like reading this, but it also just makes me feel better about the writing in general. Plus, I like to hear from my fans! So come on! Don't just be a voice-less number on the follower count! Make yourself heard!

Alright, that's done. Now then, get ready for the next installment...coming atcha...NOW!

* * *

The crossroad itself wasn't exactly elaborate, but it nonetheless caught Oshawott's attention as he and Snivy approached. It was a typical joining of two dirt paths, perpendicular to one another. Decades of travelers all passing over the same route appeared to have pounded the earth flat over time, eventually forming the ragged light brown trail before them. Numerous large grey stones had been placed to mark the edges of the paths near the crossroad, while slightly beyond said rocks, areas of grass, patches of bushes and flowers, and even small trees were visible. As they got closer, Oshawott could make out even more details. The path had various flat stones upon it, mostly in variations of blue and purple, that added some color to the otherwise plain dirt road. At the upper-left-hand corner of the crossroad was a set of three arrow-shaped signs, nailed one on top of the next to a long wooden stake, each one pointing down a different path: the topmost sign pointed down the path they'd just come from, and read "Ragged Mountain Region" upon it (Oshawott was momentarily surprised to see written , readable English in this world); the middle sign pointed down the path to their left (which curved around some rocks and trees, blocking their view of what lay beyond), and read "Come on in to Post Town!"; the third, bottommost sign pointed down the path ahead, which seemed to wind down through an open expanse of hills stretching far into the distance, while the words upon the sign itself seemed to have faded, becoming illegible. A relatively small stone fountain was situated near the upper-right corner of the crossroad, with an abundance of colorful flowers growing at its base, just in front of the final, unmarked path that extended to their right. Along this path, off to the side, were some wooden gates and what appeared to be a small wooden water tower, with a tiny ladder in the front. Aside from that, however, the path seemed to just stretch into a wasteland-like area, surrounded by large orange-and-brown quarry-like stones jutting up from the ground, until it disappeared from view. Quite a drastic change from the otherwise green environment, but it certainly added its own unique touch to the mix.

It wasn't anything fancy, far from it. Still, there was some sort of simplistic natural beauty to it that couldn't have been found in any sort of big artificial crossroad, something that it shared with its surroundings. Seeing it all invoked a strange feeling of comfort within Oshawott…though he couldn't imagine why.

As they drew near, Snivy ran up ahead, Oshawott following closely behind. She soon came to a stop in the middle of the crossroad, where she stood hunched over, completely out of breath. Oshawott was likewise winded from all of this running, and put his hands on his hips while panting in exhaustion. After only a few moments, Snivy started to recover.

"Ha…ha… We did it! I'm finally here! I've finally made it!" she gasped out in elation. She immediately turned to face Oshawott and, surprising him all the more considering his current state, caught him in a light hug. "I couldn't have done it without you, Oshawott! I really owe you one!" she said happily, pulling away from him while putting on a big, grateful smile. Oshawott, still too tired to really say anything, and also somewhat confused from the sudden gesture, settled for nodding and giving his own genuine smile in return.

He really wasn't sure how much he'd actually done to help…aside from using that tree to make a bridge, of course. While it had been his idea, and ultimately his efforts, that had gotten the tree down, it was entirely possible that Snivy could have had the same idea herself had he not been there…it may have taken slightly longer for her, but she also wouldn't have been sidetracked in the first place had he not fallen out of the sky. Still, she really did look thankful, and that alone made him glad that he'd been able to help. That, and hugs were always nice, even if they came from a weird…green…plant…snake…thing.

Suddenly, Snivy was back up and running down one of the paths; the one that led to the right, into the wasteland. She quickly stopped and looked back at Oshawott. "Now I have to hurry! I'm pretty sure the letter said it was this way…" she told him, muttering the last bit as she turned back down the path.

Oshawott looked at her curiously as she went. It really didn't look like there was anything out in that direction, especially if the sign behind him was any indication. Add to that the way she'd been behaving, all excited about some meeting, and he was steadily growing more and more confused. Still, he shrugged it off as he took after her down the path.

* * *

The path itself soon disappeared from beneath them, replaced instead by a relatively flat span of hard ground, marked with large amounts of rocks, big and small, occasional patches of dry grass, and some sparsely placed trees, the few of which that were still alive looking extremely out-of-place in this massive…wasteland.

Truly, that seemed to be the only word fit to describe this place. This particular piece of earth that stretched on for miles and miles, with absolutely nothing in the middle save for dust. A single, lonely gust of wind blew through the area, picking up a cloud of dust as it went, as if to emphasize that point. The only thing that was missing was a tumbleweed.

_Scratch that, _Oshawott thought to himself. He'd just seen one emerge from behind a boulder a short distance off.

He had only been here for about a minute, and already he had to wonder as to exactly what could _possibly _be out here. Especially of such importance that Snivy, still ahead of him, was pushing on, seemingly oblivious to the emptiness of her surroundings. Quite the opposite, in fact. She only seemed to be growing more excited as she went. A she ran, she leaned her body forward while allowing her arms to trail off to the sides behind her, while her tail straightened out and lowered itself closer to the ground. Like this, she almost looked like an actual snake darting over the ground, and Oshawott found himself struggling to keep up.

What could have gotten her so excited? Out _here? _She still hadn't told him anything, so he was completely in the dark, following her unsurely without any idea as to what he was walking into.

Aside from miles of absolutely nothing, of course.

He was just starting to question the Pokémon's sanity when he noticed a small narrow river up ahead, in which flowed crystal blue water that he somehow knew was both clean and cold; a welcome reprieve from the otherwise rocky and, quite frankly, dead setting. Above the river on the "path" ahead of them was a plain bridge composed of nothing more than two large planks of wood nailed to each other. In front of the makeshift bridge and to the right was a square wooden sign with absolutely nothing on it aside from some barely recognizable chipping paint and an odd patch of grass in the corner. And on the other side of the bridge, staring absently in their general direction without any real focus, was…something that Oshawott could only assume was another Pokémon.

It was light blue, bipedal, and looked like some sort of cross between a tadpole and a giant salamander. Its head was broad and round, having little of a neck to distinguish it from the rest of the body. Its mouth was wide with two thin, hardly noticeable slits above it for a nose, and its eyes were mere dots, giving it a look of…simplicity. Its arms had three fingers and, while normal length, didn't appear to have any sort of shoulder structure, instead almost merging into the body where the "shoulders" supposedly were. Its legs, which were short and similar to Oshawott's, except much larger and more rounded, likewise had three toes each. Next to its feet was a small red bag.

Snivy continued onward without pausing, heading across the bridge and stopping directly in front of the larger Pokémon, with Oshawott trailing just slightly father behind than usual until he caught up and stood beside to her. Now that he was closer, he had to look up to see this Pokémon's head; it was at least three times taller than he was. Next to him, Snivy was panting slightly as she looked up.

"Th-thank goodness… You're still here… Phew…" she sighed in relief.

Oshawott raised an eyebrow. _She was looking for this guy?_

Her words seemed to break the larger Pokémon out of whatever trance it had been in, because it shook its head, blinked a few times, and spoke.

"Hmm?" it hummed, in a slow, deep, almost dopey tone. It was a male, from the sound of it. "I'm Quagsire, hmm? I'm the one who, mmm, manages the land around here." The Pokémon, Quagsire, looked down at Snivy, his tiny black eyes staring straight at her. "Is it you then, hmm? You're, mmm, Snivy?"

Snivy perked up and returned his gaze with a smile. "Yup. That's me."

Suddenly, Quagsire brought both of his hands together in front of him in a clap as the corners of his mouth curved upward into a small smile. "Mm-hmm! I thought so! Thanks for coming so far, hmm? It seems that waiting here was, hmm, worth it after all. I've just been standing around here by myself, hmm?"

_Just…casually standing out here? Alone? For who-knows-how-long? _Oshawott thought to himself as Quagsire continued, speaking with that continuous hum in his voice.

"But it was so boring that I was, mmm, thinking of heading home soon. But now that you're here…" he turned around to look at the surroundings. As he did so, Oshawott noted more features of his body; on his back was a wavy purple coloration, as well as a dark blue "fin" there that extended down to his large, bulbous tail. When he continued speaking, his voice took a slightly doubtful tone, though his expression remained purely simple and untroubled. "Hmm… Are you really sure about this?" he asked Snivy without turning around. "It's really, mmm, desolate. And there's nothing here… And worst of all, the Mystery Dungeons are really taking over in this area, hmm? You can't count on anything going as expected in this kind of place, hmm?"

Oshawott had just processed the unfamiliar term, _Mystery Dungeons_, when Snivy responded. "I know! That's exactly what I'm hoping for, in fact!" She walked up to Quagsire just as he was turning back around to face her, and brought out a large jingly pouch from a brown shoulder-strap bag she was carrying.

_Wait, has she had that bag with her this whole time? How did I not notice?_

"I brought the Poké with me," she said, handing the pouch to Quagsire, which he took from her and opened up at the top, appearing to inspect its contents. After a few moments he looked back down at Snivy.

"Hmm. You're sure you won't regret this?" he asked. Snivy shook her head no. "Then here you go. Your, hmm, deed," he said, reaching down into the bag beside his feet and pulling out a rolled-up document, which he handed to Snivy. As Snivy accepted it, Oshawott finally registered exactly what was going on.

_Deed? You mean…Snivy just…bought land from Quagsire? _This _land? She actually bought this place? What the…_ he looked around. _Why would anyone buy this place? If I didn't know any better, and if it were my business, I'd think this was some sort of scam…but…_

He looked back at Snivy, who was positively beaming at the piece of parchment in her hands. It looked like she knew full well what she was doing…and Quagsire _had _asked her if she was sure about her decision…

"This land now belongs to you, hmm?" Quagsire stated plainly. "You can, mmm, do whatever you'd like with it. Good day, hmm!" With that, he placed the pouch of Poké (which Oshawott now assumed was the equivalent of money in this world) into his red bag, picked it up, and turned toward the path they'd come from, walking past them and leaving without another word. It was just then that Oshawott realized that Quagsire hadn't said a single word to him in that entire time. Not that he minded, but still.

The moment Quagsire went around a corner and out of view, Snivy jumped into the air, spinning as she did so. "Yeah! All riiiiight!" she cried out in joy, raising a triumphant arm into the air upon landing. "From this day forth, this is gonna be my Paradiiiiiise!" She felt so inexplicably happy at this moment, now that her lifelong dream was finally beginning to take shape…however, she must've have taken notice of her company at that moment as well (said Oshawott was giving her a _REALLY _weird look), because she paused and opened her eyes. "Ah…"

Just like that, she went back to normal, looking quite sheepish as she turned to face Oshawott. "S-sorry for getting all worked up by myself…" she muttered, looking down as she did so.

Oshawott smiled in spite of himself. "Nah, it's fine. But seriously, what the heck is going on?"

Snivy laughed nervously as she looked back up at him. "Eheheh… I, ah, suppose I do owe you some sort of explanation, huh? Alright then." She smiled as she began. "Well, you remember how I said I wanna learn all kinda of things and see all kinds of things? To be an adventurer, right? This right here is the starting point for making all of that come true! My dream…is to make a paradise for us all. A Pokémon Paradise."

Oshawott cocked his head to the side in confusion. "A Pokémon…Paradise?"

Snivy nodded. "Yeah. I'm gonna make this the kind of Paradise you could only dream about!" She looked off to the side briefly, gazing into the distance like Quagsire had been doing. "The Mystery Dungeons are spreading around here…" she said, not noticing Oshawott become even more confused as he heard that term again. "You never know what might happen on land like this. There are a lot of Pokémon who hate that kind of uncertainty…" she turned back to him, with that gleam in her eye. The same gleam from when she'd talked about her dreams back in the forest. "…but to me it just means an exciting adventure could sprout up at any time! I'm going to have all kinds of adventures, and find lots of other Pokémon like me. We'll work hard together, and life will be really great! We'll be able to live the kind of life that really makes you feel alive! Every day will be full of fun and excitement! I might make a mistake here and there, but this will be a wonderful place. It'll be like living in paradise! A real paradise! That's my dream!" She closed her eyes and sighed in content, as though visualizing the scene in her head. When she opened them and looked back at Oshawott, she continued. "I've been saving up all my Poké for years now, just for that. And now I've found the perfect land!" She coughed slightly and kicked the ground. "Well, really it's more like everywhere else was just too expensive… So I didn't really have much of a choice… But…" she smiled again. "…this is going to be the start of all my dreams!"

Oshawott couldn't help but smile himself after hearing all of that. _Wow… So Snivy has those kinds of big dreams, huh? It sure is nice to have a dream… Just hearing her talk about it is enough to make me excited too!_

And indeed, it wasn't so much the concept as it was the sheer enthusiasm with which Snivy talked about it that made Oshawott excited. The way she described it was so vivid and perfect, even without actual descriptions, it made his own heart flutter and pound in response. And Snivy…he'd never seen anyone with such pure and lighthearted intentions before in his life. He could see in her eyes as she spoke that she really meant every word she said, and fully intended to carry out every action. Pokémon or not, it made him feel strange, being in the presence of someone like her…in a good way. Like…hearing her talk about her dreams had awakened something inside of him…a desire. For what, he wasn't entirely sure…but…right now, he had to admit, this whole idea of a Pokémon Paradise…well, it sounded pretty sweet!

"So, Oshawott…" Snivy started, breaking him away from his thoughts. "What are you going to do now? Do you have somewhere to go?"

That single question was like a bombshell being dropped on Oshawott's good mood.

_… … …_

"Listen," she continued, "if you don't have anywhere to go… Why not consider helping me out?" She took a step forward, smiling even brighter than before. "How about you help me make my Paradise, Oshawott?"

Oshawott nearly stumbled back in surprise. _What?!_

"There's no way I can do it all by myself… So I've been planning to get more Pokémon to join me over time anyway. What do you think, Oshawott? Will you help me out?"

Oshawott managed to recover his wits and turned away for a moment to gather his thoughts. He'd just been offered the chance to stay here and help with this whole "Paradise" thing…and it really did sound like a great thing Snivy was doing…but still…

_Hmm… What should I do? _he asked himself. _I'm still…kinda worried about that cry for help I heard, but… It's not like I have any more clues about what it meant now… And I don't have anywhere else to go… So then… Maybe I really should just stay with Snivy for the time being? If I'm lucky, maybe along the way… I'll figure out what it is I should do… All right! Decision made!_

Grinning, he turned to face Snivy once more. She had a hopeful look in her eyes, which just made Oshawott grin even more. "Sooo…" she said slowly, drawing it out for fun. "Thinking about it all…I _do _appreciate the offer…" He made sure to say this in a tone that suggested he was about to turn her down. As expected, Snivy immediately started to look down in disappointment. He spoke up then. "…_and _I really don't have any other options. Plus, I think I'd like to see this Paradise of yours, Snivy…sooo… I'll stay."

It must've taken a few moments for those words to properly register with Snivy. When they did, her head snapped back up to look him in the eye. "Really?" she asked, her own eye glimmering. "You're really gonna help me out?!"

Oshawott nodded. That was all she needed.

"YES!" she shouted, jumping into the air again. Then she hopped forward and embraced him. "Thanks, Oshawott! I mean it, really!"

Oshawott coughed a bit. He was still a bit shy when it came to hugging this Pokémon, truth be told…fortunately, she released him fairly quickly, backing up as she did so. When she spoke, the smile on her face was the biggest and most genuine he'd yet seen on her…and that was saying something.

"We're gonna be great friends! We'll be a great team, I just know it!" she said with delight. "So, Oshawott, now that we're officially friends and all…" she blushed slightly. "If you want to give me a nickname… Well, that would be OK!"

Oshawott stared for a few seconds…then started chuckling. "Umm…I'm not sure that's how friendship works," he stated good-naturedly. "I don't even know where this is coming from… My first act as your friend shouldn't be to give you a new name, I don't think…besides, I haven't given you that opportunity yet! Ladies first, right?"

Snivy giggled at this. "Well, thank you! Though it's unnecessary. I don't feel like I need to give you a nickname, Oshawott… Technically, you already gave yourself one."

Oshawott froze at this. "Huh?"

Snivy smiled, though in a different way this time…knowingly. "Something tells me that 'Oshawott' isn't your real name. You did say that you're actually a human, after all. You just said your name was Oshawott so that you wouldn't be embarrassed, didn't you?"

Now it was Oshawott's turn to blush. "I…uh…well…see, I…"

"Don't worry, it's fine. I don't mind," Snivy said, alleviating his worries somewhat.

"Thanks…" he breathed out. "Yeah…truth is, I know Oshawott isn't actually my real name…but then…I don't even know what my real name is. In fact, I don't know the names of…anyone from my world. I just…can't remember them…" A pained expression fell upon his face as he uttered these words. Snivy was there in a heartbeat.

"Hey, it's alright," she comforted, placing a leafy arm over his shoulder. "I don't really blame you for forgetting, considering you hit your head on the ground after falling from the sky. Just give it some time. I'm sure it'll come back to you eventually. And in the meantime, I'm happy to just call you Oshawott, okay?"

"…yeah. Okay." Oshawott wiped away a tear that he almost hadn't realized was forming, then put on a smile as he turned back to face Snivy. "So…about your nickname…"

"Oh, right!" Snivy perked up again. "What do you think? You got something?"

Oshawott grinned again. "If you're fine just calling me Oshawott, then I don't see any reason why I should give you a different name. Snivy is your name, so Snivy is what I'll call you."

"Really? Are you sure?" she asked. Oshawott simply nodded. "All right then! Snivy it is!" With that, she turned around and gazed off into the distance, though this time, with that unique glint in her eyes. "I'm definitely gonna make my dreams come true! Just you watch!" she declared enthusiastically, like she was challenging the world to try and get in her way. She began running around out of sheer glee, jumping around and muttering what sounded like ideas for the Paradise to herself as she went.

_Sheesh, _Oshawott thought, watching her. _When Snivy acts that happy… I can't help feeling like I made the right choice! _He turned away and faced the river, particularly looking at his reflection in the water, as his face became a more serious one. _But still… I can't believe I got turned into an actual Pokémon… It all started when I heard that voice in my dream…and the next thing I noticed, my body had been transformed. _Just then, something occurred to him. _That's right…_

He remembered that vision he'd seen in his dream…of the small, round, pink Pokémon, being pursued through a cave by a scary-looking three-headed dragon Pokémon…and how, in those last moments of the vision, the dragon had reared back with its main head, about to strike…

_I wonder if that poor Pokémon I heard is all right? How could I forget her? At least…I'm assuming it was a her. I've got to help her somehow… But how? Hmm… All I have now are questions without answers… I don't even know for sure if I came to this world to save that Pokémon. And besides…_

He turned back around, seeing Snivy still having a merry old time dancing away. _Staying here with Snivy… That sure seems like it will lead to a lot of adventures! I feel like…something great is waiting in store for me!_

Snivy finally stopped her little public performance, at last looking at Oshawott. Instead of embarrassed, she simply looked both determined and happy. "Oshawott!" she said suddenly. "Let's do our best together! I know there's nothing here now…but…" she hopped next to him and grabbed his shoulder. "This is it! This is the place!" She looked him in the eye. "This is going to be our…"

Somehow, Oshawott knew what to do as he and Snivy both pumped their fists into the air and shouted the last word at the top of their lungs.

"Paradiiiiiiiiiiiise!"

* * *

**_And that was how our journey together truly got under way. It had all happened so fast, but…perhaps that was a good thing, in a way. However, that was only the beginning. Our first trial had yet to take place…though it was fast approaching._**

**_Mere hours later…_**

* * *

The sky had turned a dark shade of indigo as the moon, full and bright, displayed itself to the world below. Countless stars, more than Oshawott could remember ever seeing in his entire life combined, filled the sky. Tiny pinpricks of light against the dark backdrop of the night. Dozens of constellations could be seen on a clear night like this, according to Snivy. Though he wasn't familiar with any of them, he had a feeling that he would be in time. The lack of any form of artificial light made the night sky the clearest it could possibly be. Yes, even if it was a wasteland at the moment, it really was beautiful out here. Sitting in peace, gazing up at the stars, with a friend…

With Snivy.

"Wow…night sure comes fast around here, huh?" she asked him, looking back down after staring at the sky for several minutes. And yes, he had to agree, it _did _come rather quickly. Hadn't it only been a few hours ago when the sun had been relatively high in the air as the two of them had celebrated their newfound friendship?

Snivy looked around hesitantly for some reason…then she faced Oshawott again, a troubled expression upon her face. "There's nothing at all here… I mean, of course there's not, but… Well… I guess we'll just have to camp out for the night…"

Oshawott nodded. "Sounds good to me. I could use a rest after all the crazy things that have happened to me today…"

Snivy giggled at this. "Yeah, I'll bet. I think we could both use a rest…okay. I'll go gather up something for us to make beds with. You mind staying here?"

Oshawott shrugged. "Not really. Just don't take too long, alright?"

"Don't worry, I won't. I should just be a few minutes."

He raised an eyebrow at this, but shrugged it off. "Alright. Be careful."

"Thanks, I will," she said. With that, she turned and walked off.

Oshawott was, of course, content to just sit there and wait for her to return. Still, he felt that he should do something, since Snivy was out gathering bed material for them. So he got up and, getting an idea, walked around the perimeter of the area, gathering up a pile of sticks in his arms as he went. Once he'd collected a decent amount, he returned to where he'd been originally and set them down in one big mound. Then he went back around, pulled up some dry grass from a nearby patch, and placed the grass over the pile of sticks. With that done, he grabbed up two suitable-looking stones the ground, knelt over his pile of sticks and grass, and got to work, repeatedly smacking and rubbing the two stones together as hard as he could, in different directions, until he started getting sparks. Feeling success, he then lowered the stones down and tried to get the sparks to land on top on the dried grass so that it would ignite. It would have all been so much easier if he just had a lighter, but hey, you've gotta play with the hand you're dealt.

It was right around when the pile was starting to smoke, and Oshawott was blowing on it to get the air circulation going, that Snivy returned, a massive heap of dry tall grass in her hands. It was hearing her shriek that had caught Oshawott's attention, surprising him and almost making him smash his hand between the two stones. As he looked up, he saw Snivy had dropped the grass and was staring at the growing embers, something akin to fear in her eyes.

"Oshawott…what're you doing?" she asked, trying to keep calm despite the situation.

"Oh, uh…hey Snivy," he replied nonchalantly. "I'm just trying to start up a fire for us here…almost got it…" with one final smack of the two stones, a tiny flame popped into existence. "Ah, there we go!"

Snivy, however, shrieked again and gathered up some dirt in her hands before running up and throwing it over the fire, putting it out immediately. While she was panting in what sounded like relief, Oshawott was just confused.

"What the… Snivy, what was that for? It was just a fire…" he said simply, not understanding why she'd reacted that way.

Snivy, still taking deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down, answered. "I know, I know… I'm sorry, I just…I'm _really _uncomfortable around fires…they kinda freak me out…sorry, but…do you mind if we just go without one?"

Oshawott was still confused, but right now he really did just want rest, not drama. So he shrugged. "Alright, fine, I guess. Let's just set up those beds…"

Snivy nodded in silent gratitude and helped him to make two small makeshift beds out of the tall grass, right next to each other. The two of them wasted no time in getting themselves in…there were no covers, of course, but hey, again, deal with what your dealt.

That didn't stop Oshawott from cursing silently as a chilly breeze came by and sent shivers up his spine. Snivy had a similar reaction. "Brr… It's pretty cold, huh?" she asked him, without getting up.

Oshawott grunted. "Well, I _did _try to make us a fire…"

"…"

At first, her silence made Oshawott worried that he'd hurt her feelings, but she soon responded to him.

"Yeah…sorry. Fires just…make me all jittery. I can't relax around them. In any case… I guess the first thing we need to do…is build a house."

_…Hmm. That's true… Fire or not, if it started raining right now, we'd be in a real mess! I'd like to be able to keep out of the rain and wind at least…_

"Let's think about building ourselves a house tomorrow, okay? Sleep tight… Oshawott…"

"… You too, Snivy… g'night…

"…night…"

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_And thus, Chapter 4 draws to a close...but the fun is only just beginning! Why, you may ask? Well, aside from the fact that I'm obviously continuing with this story, here's a piece of news that I'm sure a LOT of you will like to hear.

I am now accepting OC submissions.

Yes, yes, I'm awesome, I know. You can send me a personal bouquet of flowers later. For now, I have some ground rules to lay out! First, I'd like to state that I am by no means telling you what to do. Allow your imaginations to run wild, I say! Of course, don't be TOO over-the-top with the OCs. Just gimme something...I dunno. Usable. Probably a poor word to use in this scenario, but you get the idea.

If you do send in an OC, either by PM or Review, I will do my best to try and communicate with you as to how I plan on using them (if at all; please understand that not _every _OC submitted will make the cut. There's only so much room in a story, after all), while simultaneously trying to avoid handing out spoilers.

Also, unlike Gates to Infinity, I'm not restricting my story's cast to only 5th Gen Pokémon, plus a handful of Pokémon from other Gens. I am using EVERYONE in the 5th Gen-not most, ALL-and also ALL 498 Pokémon from the previous Generations! In the future, I may even go into Gen 6...but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. My point is, don't be afraid to send in a Pokémon that wasn't in Gates to Infinity. While I can't have a surplus of Pokémon that aren't native to that area they're in, a general mix will be nice and appreciated.

I'm excited to see what you guys and galls come up with, but in the meantime, here are the things that I'm primarily looking for. Again, feel free to send in whatever the hay you want, but this is sorta my...wish list, I guess you could call it? Yeah.

Exploration Teams. (Severely lacking in Gates to Infinity, and so we need more of them. I already have a couple of idea for teams in reserve at the moment, but I'm letting you all submit yours as a priority. Feel free to name them whatever you like; either in "The **********" format, or "Team **********" format. And no, the names don't have to be within 10 characters in length.)

Pokémon who need help/request-ers. Not entirely glamorous, but where would we be without the Pokémon who are constantly getting lost/losing their stuff/whining about some random guy in a dungeon? Nowhere, that's where. These guys pay us, and so they are important to our dungeon-delving careers. I don't expect many of these, but it's something to think about.

Outlaws. Unique, varied outlaws. Somehow, everyone loves being the outlaw instead of the damsel in distress. Oh well. You all know what to do here.

And also: I need heroes AND villains, so don't be afraid to send some in. And their alignment can be anywhere in between. As for "hero" they can range from valiant guardian of justice to just a nice guy, or anywhere in between! Same for villain: they could be the scourge of the universe, down to petty thief, down to random jerk on the street! Or they could be unaligned, confused in their morals. Anywhere in between works fine!

Okay, here's the form! Starting...now!

**Name****: Unlike most other PMD fics, I don't like Pokémon having human names. This is based on a video game; as such, almost all Pokémon here will be referred to as their species, with a few exceptions. Small nicknames are allowed, but otherwise, keep it real.**

**Species of Pokemon****: No Legendaries, and try to avoid Riolu and Lucario. I cannot stress enough that I want this to be the spawn of your imagination, so use your favorite Pokemon or whatever, but how about a underused one? Just a suggestion.**

**Gender:**** Even if you pick a gender-less Pokemon, I don't mind if you establish a masculine, feminine, or neutral nature.**

**Age:**** As this holds true in our world with animals, age may be different between, say, an elephant and a fruit fly. Not saying you have to research this, but if in your opinion the age of 7 is middle age for a Caterpie, let me know.**

**Background****: What was the life of your OC like? Childhood? Growing up? Did they have a troubled past? Are they a loose cannon cop who doesn't play by the rules? A rookie explorer? A veteran explorer who wants to get back in the field? What are their goals, their motivations?**

**Occupation:  What do they do? Are they an explorer? A shop owner who's fed up with the system and ready to take some revenge? A lawyer!? THAT would be cool!**

**Personality:**** What are they like? Spare no detail, as you are defining the character of this OC. Their likes, dislike, etc.**

**Relatives/relations:**** Family? Parents, siblings, old flames, current lovers?**

**Attacks/Battle Strategy:**** How does your OC throw down, and with what moves?**

**Clothing:**** What do they wear, and in what fashion. Again, these are monsters, so let's not get too carried away.**

Speaking of getting carried away, don't be afraid to get carried away! Get as open ended as you want! And there's no limit to how many OCs you can submit, so you can do a whole team, a group of townsfolk, etc. Stay up all night sending in OCs for all I care! They can be in a PM or a review. Though if you're gonna send me a whole ton of OCs, I prefer it to be in a PM. Review box is for reviews. Don't put an OC Submission into the Review box unless that submission comes alongside a review. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

Alrighty, I think I'm done here. I eagerly await what get's sent in! G'night, folks! Or...good morning...or good afternoon...wherever you are.


	5. Chapter Five: Welcome to Post Town!

_**Author's Note:**_And just like that, with the addition of this one chapter, the story's total word count goes up by almost 10,000. Officially making this the longest chapter so far. I know that just under 10,000 for a chapter is nothing compared to some other some other stories out there, but hey. This is chapter five. I just started. Gimme a break.

On another note, there were supposed to be music symbols at a certain point in this chapter, but darn FANFICTION doesn't let us use symbols in our uploaded writing. So instead you have to try and imagine the musical notes floating through the air at the appropriate time. Sorry about that.

And one last thing before the chapter begins:

OC submissions began after the last chapter. They are now closed.

Surprised? Well, I didn't make this story up from scratch, remember. This fanfic is based off of an actual video game. As such, there is already an abundance of characters at my disposal. I just wanted a few more to liven things up a little. Now that I have a few more, I can comfortably close submission. Thanks again to all those who participated. You've all given me some amazing characters to use.

Now then, without further ado...CHAPTER FIVE!

* * *

As the sun rose from the horizon, it brought with it wonderful morning weather. The sky was clear and blue, dotted with puffy white clouds that shaded portions of the land below as they floated along. The sun itself; warm and bright. All in all, it looked to be the start of another beautiful day.

It probably would have been more beautiful if the setting weren't 98% dead and rocky, but with any luck, it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Slowly strolling down the path through the barren land was none other than Quagsire, humming a merry tune to himself as he ambled along. Of course, even if he sometimes did things on a mere whim, he hadn't come here for a leisurely walk. No, he was making his way toward the site of his short land transaction from the day before. While he had admittedly been quite relieved to have finally been able to get that particular piece of estate off of his chest, he was interested in seeing how those two Pokémon, the Snivy who'd bought the land from him and her companion (who, after some thought, he'd recognized as an Oshawott), were holding up. Not that he was concerned, mind. All his life, he'd rarely found a reason to get concerned or worried about anything at all, even considering his own rather colorful past. No, it was nothing more than mere curiosity that brought him out here today. All he had to do was find them…if they were even still here, of course. If not, well, it wasn't as though he had anything he could have been doing instead. This was usually when he went out for his morning stroll anyways, so no harm done.

He soon rounded a corner and saw them just past a bridge- -a different one than he had been standing near before, farther along the river where it curved back around toward the direction it came- -appearing to have set up a small camp; they both looked to be awake already. Well, one of them did anyways. The girl, Snivy, looked as though she'd just woken up, as she was still sitting upright in her bed of dried tall grass, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and yawning. The other one, her companion, was already up and stretching.

A small smile coming to his face, Quagsire approached the pair, crossing the crude plank bridge set up over the river, practically identical to the first one he'd crossed to get here, and stopping nearby their camp. They both quickly noticed him, at which point he decided to speak.

"Mmm, morning. I came to see how you two were surviving, hmm?" he stated in a friendly voice, somehow simultaneously interested and passive. "Did you sleep well last night, hmm?"

The Snivy girl was the one who answered. "Morning, Quagsire… And no, not really… It was a little chilly," she said groggily. Then she added, with a slight nervous laugh, "Turns out it's pretty tough to stay out of the wind when you've got no walls."

"Who would've thought?" her Oshawott companion piped in sarcastically, but with a playful smile on his face.

Snivy returned this smile. "Y-yeah…" she turned her gaze back to Quagsire. "So we're thinking that we'd really like to build a house… But we don't really know where to start."

Quagsire suddenly took on a brighter expression at this news. "Hmm! Well, if it's a house you're after- -! I think there should be a carpenter or three somewhere in Post Town, hmm?"

Snivy's face immediately lit up. "Huh? Really?!"

Quagsire nodded slowly. "Mm-hmm. If you ask them, they should be able to build you a house, hmm?" he did a quick gesture behind him with his head. "Post Town is just a, mmm, quick walk from here. Want to check it out, hmm?"

Snivy jumped up immediately. "Yeah!"she exclaimed. "Let's go, Oshawott! Let's find a carpenter to build us a house!"

"Uh…yeah, okay…" he responded unsurely.

_Pokémon have carpenters?_

"Wonderful! Let's go then, hmm?" Quagsire said pleasantly. Then, without waiting for them, he turned around and started back down the path he'd come from. Snivy and Oshawott exchanged a quick glance with each other before they hurried to catch up (though it wasn't all that hard; Quagsire walked at a rather slow-and-steady pace). From there they made their way back down the path, with Quagsire walking in the lead.

It didn't take long for them to arrive back at the first bridge, which they crossed unceremoniously. "This way, hmm?" Quagsire said over his "shoulder" as he went around a corner, followed closely by Snivy and Oshawott. "It sure is annoyingly emp- -I mean refreshingly empty around here, hmm?"

Oshawott raised an eyebrow, but they continued on. A minute later, the normal dirt path started to reemerge beneath them. The crossroad came into sight soon after that, with Quagsire humming jovially to himself the whole way.

"This way, hmm… Hmmm Hmmm Hmmm… Hmmm Hmmm Hmmmmmm... Hmm-hmm! " He stopped in the middle of the crossroad and turned to look down the path heading north, toward the hilly distance. Snivy and Oshawott stopped and looked too as Quagsire told them, "A lot of traveling Pokémon come along this highway here, hmm? And so Post Town was built as a, hmm, nice rest stop for all those Pokémon." He turned down the path leading to his left. "Post Town is just this way, hmm? Let's go check it out, hmm?"

Again, without waiting for a response, he began walking down the path, with Oshawott and Snivy having no real choice but to tag along behind him.

* * *

It took about ten seconds after that before Post Town came into view, as their group rounded some large rocks and trees on the side of the road. Were it not for these natural obstructions, the town would have been clearly visible from the crossroad. Nevertheless, they could see it now.

Directly on the path ahead of them was a collection of multiple different structures, all situated at different spots upon a large hill composed of tiered ridges rising out of the earth, with the outcroppings more-or-less stacked on top of one another. From where he was, Oshawott could see bounteous amounts of clear blue water rising from what looked like a natural fountains near the top of the hill and flowing down the ledges of the hill in tiny waterfalls, culminating in small pools and rivers that snaked all through the town, but still left plenty of dry land. Also present were multiple large, curving wooden staircases that connected the higher ledges to the lower ones, as well as a couple of bridges (of noticeably better quality than the ones in Paradise) to connect the ledges of the same height. The combination of constant clean water, fertile ground, and perfect exposure to sunlight allowed the entire hill, aside from the parts taken up by structure or paths, to be covered in grass, bushes, flower patches, trees, and other forms of plant life. On their approach, Oshawott noticed that one building in particular- -the largest one out of all present, rising from the bottommost tier to the same height as the top one- -actually looked as though it had bushes growing out of its _roof, _as well as a river actually running through part of the structure itself.

It definitely wasn't what Oshawott had expected. Instead of the surrounding land being forcibly altered in order to make room for a town, it looked as though the town had been built into the shape of the land, compensating for itself. Nature and civilization weren't clashing like he was accustomed to seeing in his home world; they were blending together in perfect sync, creating a whole new image of wonder and harmony.

The whole curious idea of animal-like creatures constructing an actual town took a back seat in his mind as he marveled at the sight.

The three of them made their way toward the base of the bottom ridge, where the path took the shape of stairs, also made of dirt and shaped into the rocky shelf. Climbing up the short set of stairs, Oshawott noticed a small square arch erected over the path just ahead of them, composed simply of three long wooden logs, two of which rose perpendicular to the ground while the third crossed horizontally at the top, secured by rope. From this top log dangled a thin, colorful banner. The entire arch was tied down by two smaller wooden stakes at either side of it.

As they walked beneath the arch, Oshawott took notice of the smaller signs and advertisements nailed to its sides. He didn't get time to dwell on these, however. Once they cleared the makeshift town entrance, Quagsire turned around to face them. "Here we are, hmm? Mm-hmm. This is Post Town," he announced.

Now that they were actually within its boundaries, Oshawott could make out even more details regarding the town; specifically, its inhabitants. From where he stood, he could see multiple different Pokémon scattered around what he recognized as the obvious town square. They looked to all be from a wide range of different species as well, for the most part. He saw two dog-like Pokémon walking together further down the street. While they both looked similar, in that they both had mainly brown fur with dark blue on their backs and a lighter brown on their faces, one was larger, older, and scruffier-looking, while the other actually looked like a puppy. In the center of the square was an odd pair of Pokémon; something resembling a large eaglet with a thick covering of fuzzy white down on its head, conversing with a Pokémon that looked like a brown chipmunk with piercing red eyes, standing up on its hinds legs. An eaglet…having what looked like a casual, friendly conversation…with a chipmunk. Then he looked over further to his right, and saw one of the strangest-looking Pokémon yet as it moseyed along, appearing to inspect the ground as it went; quite simply, it looked like a walking boulder. It had a rocky, blue-brown body, with a hexagonal, yellow artifice in the center that looked like an…eye, or…mouth…or ear of some sort. And those were just the first ones he saw; plenty more were present, going about their business in one way or another. It certainly wasn't a large town by population standards, from the looks of it, but that just gave it its own unique comfortable feel.

Still…it was all just so…seeing so many of them gathered like this, right before his eyes, took his breath away. It erased all lingering doubt in his mind that this was real, seeing all of these Pokémon here, almost all of which he'd never seen before in his life.

Snivy wasn't quite as dumbstruck as Oshawott was, but she was still impressed. "Wow…" she breathed. "I would've expected it to be quieter somehow, but… It's surprisingly lively here, isn't it?"

Quagsire smiled and nodded. "Mm-hmm. This town is quite famous for having the best water…" he gestured at a nearby waterfall and the accompanying river of fresh spring water, "so visiting Pokémon all drink their fill and wash away their fatigue, hmm? I suppose that's why everyone tends to gather here, hmm? There are a lot of, mmm, shops and things, too." He turned around and pointed to a nearby structure. The structure itself looked like a shop or stall of some sort, with a counter for the merchant up front. Though, from this angle, they couldn't see the merchant or merchants, if there were any. But that didn't seem to be what Quagsire was pointing at. Beside the structure was a large purple box, intricately designed with yellow patterns over every face. At its sides were two yellow handles, presumably for lifting it up (though it looked quite heavy), and at its front was a mechanism…a lock of some sort, it looked like , round in shape with four pegs reaching outward from it, similar to the turning-locks he sometimes saw in banks.

"That strange box over there is a Deposit Box, hmm?" Quagsire told them. "You can deposit your items and Poké there and then, hmm, take them out later. These boxes are special though, hmm? Each Deposit Box is linked to one another, hmm? So you can deposit something in one box and, mmm, take it out in an different box altogether. In addition, they can key into your DNA signature, hmm? So different Pokémon has separate, mmm, storage spaces within the boxes. Only you and whoever you're sharing with is allowed to, mmm, withdraw from your particular space. It's a very handy tool for Pokémon everywhere, hmm?"

"Uh, question…" Oshawott stepped forward slightly. "Um…that sounds cool and all, but…how exactly does that work? The box thing, I mean."

This question appeared to confuse Quagsire, though all he did was tilt his head to the side without moving his eyes or mouth at all. "Hmm…I don't really know. It does seem kinda strange when you think about it, hmm? Almost, mmm, magical. But they exist, and that's good enough for me, hmm?"

Without waiting for Oshawott's perplexed response to this, he continued, now directly pointing at the structure itself. "And there's the general store. You can buy all kinds of goods and items there, hmm?" He turned back around to the two smaller Pokémon. "There's also the inn and its restaurant, which is the big building in the center of town, mmm, and all kinds of other places. You should feel free to use any of the shops you'd like, hmm? Assuming you have-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off as a small, angry voice cut through the air. "What're you doing?!"

All three of them turned toward the source of the commotion, and Oshawott saw the boulder-like Pokémon from before, along with a Pokémon that looked like a light blue duckling bird.

"Hmm. Looks like Roggenrola and Ducklett are, mmm, at it again," Quagsire stated, an actual sullen look appearing on his face. Though the duck Pokémon, probably the one called Ducklett, had a visibly angry expression going on, Oshawott was surprised to hear the same voice come from the boulder-shaped one, indentified as Roggenrola, despite the thing's seeming lack of…face parts…as it yelled again.

"You just hit me on purpose, didn't you! That hurt, you oaf!" the Roggenrola shouted at Ducklett in a surprisingly normal and young-sounding male voice despite its appearance. And despite, again, the lack of facial features, this guy was clearly ticked off.

The Ducklett scoffed and raised his wings as though they were arms as he retorted, in an appropriately duck-ish sounding voice. "All I did was brush you with my beak! What's the big deal?! Don't go throwing a fit over every little bump!"

The two looked like they were about to come to blows, and every other Pokémon in the square was either just watching or continuing their business, either oblivious to the conflict or just ignoring it. Fortunately, instead of starting a violent scene, both Pokémon simply let out a "Hmph" at the same time as they both turned away from each other and went off in different directions, Roggenrola out of the square and Ducklett into the building Quagsire had identified as the inn. All of the other Pokémon who had been watching the exchange simply carried on as though nothing had happened.

_Whoa... They seem a bit touchy… _Oshawott noted mentally. _And none of the other Pokémon even tried to step in…is this a regular occurrence?_

His inward question was answered when Quagsire looked down at them, his own head slightly cocked to the side. "Everyone seems a bit on edge these days, hmm?" he either asked or told them; Oshawott couldn't really tell. "It seems the strife between Pokémon just, hmm, keeps growing worse. From what I, mmm, hear, it seems that everyone's nerves are a bit strained… Some Pokémon even think it's because of the spread of the Mystery Dungeons lately, hmm? Hmm. But who can really say for sure?"

Snivy took on a thoughtful expression of her own as she brought her hand up to her chin. "You're right. Relationships between Pokémon are definitely sour these days. More and more Pokémon are only looking out for themselves…" She gestured towards the town square for emphasis. "Did you see how no one even tried to stop that fight just now? There's just no trust between Pokémon anymore… I wish everyone would be friendlier, but…"

…_huh. _Oshawott thought. _So this world isn't all sunshine and flowers after all. I'd thought that after meeting Snivy, but…no trust, everyone looking out for themselves…these Pokémon are more like humans than I would've imagined._

Quagsire nodded slowly. "The world does seem a bit dark these days, hmm? Though I wish it weren't…" And just like that, his semi-sullen expression was gone, replaced with a brighter one. "Well, never mind all that, hmm? You two needed, mmm, a carpenter, right? I'll go have a look around, hmm? While I do that, you two can, hmm, check out the town."

Snivy adjusted her bag and smiled. "All right! Thanks Quagsire!"

With another slow nod and a small smile of his own, Quagsire turned and headed off into town, leaving Oshawott and Snivy on their lonesome. A few moments of silence passed between them before Oshawott broke it.

"…sooo…what now?" he asked candidly.

Snivy looked down briefly in thought. "Hmm…" she hummed, and for a moment Oshawott was worried that she might've picked up on Quagsire's own humming habit. Then she continued, "Well, Quagsire's gone off to find a carpenter for us, so… I guess we ought to take his suggestion and use this time to look around town, huh?"

Oshawott shrugged. "Sounds good to me. Where to first?"

Snivy started scanning the area, until her eyes settled upon the building nearest to then; the same one from before, with the Deposit Box positioned next to it.

"Why not there?" she asked. "Quagsire said that this was a shop, right? We don't have any Poké, but we can at least browse, right?"

"Alright…wait. What do you mean we don't have any Poké?" He pointed back down the road. "You bought that whole giant stretch of land, didn't you?"

"Oh…right…well…you see…" she laughed nervously. "Umm…remember how I said I'd been saving up all of my Poké for years so I could buy that land?" she asked. Oshawott nodded yes. "Well…thing is…I kinda…_spent _all of it when I did that. So I really…don't have a single Poké on me right now."

Oshawott just blinked. "So…you came all the way here…spent literally every penn-err…_Poké _you had to buy a huge chunk of property that is, at present, nothing more than a wasteland…planning to build this massive Paradise up from scratch…and yet…you didn't save up a little extra money for _after _you bought the land? How're we supposed to pay the carpenter to build us a house?"

Snivy's eyes suddenly widened as this little revelation sunk in. "Ooooohhhh…." she cringed slightly, then attempted a smile…a little strained, but still. "Well…I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it, huh?" she asked, again laughing nervously.

"…right," Oshawott responded hesitantly. _Well this is lovely. I can already tell I made a _wonderful _decision…_

"Um…let's check out the shop then?" Snivy asked, apparently eager to change the subject. She started off toward the structure, Oshawott sighing and following her.

The shop itself (which in all honesty was closer to the size of a stall, but was still closed off like a building and looked large enough to house quite a few things) had a very…interesting design, in Oshawott's opinion. It was shaped like a dome, and appeared to be made out of wood. It was painted green on the left side and purple on the right, with a strange yellow pattern at the top; it looked like two separate lines on either side of the building, starting at the front and making their way toward the back, both lines curving and forming loopholes like reflections of one another before they continued on. About halfway down the dome, and also marking the bottom of the yellow roof design, multiple wooden planks of slightly differing lengths stuck out of the building like frills. The main color of the planks was once again either green or purple, depending on the side of the building, but all of the planks had a zigzag design on them of three different colors- -red, yellow, and bright green- -which flowed smoothly from one plank to the next.

Then of course there was the counter set up in front of the shop, which came into better view as they rounded the building. It had a white cloth draped over it, as well as two large wooden crates flanking it on either side. What caught Oshawott's attention, though, were the two Pokémon standing behind the counter.

To Oshawott, they were both basically reptilian-looking in appearance. They had yellow rings around their eyes as well as yellow lips and spiky-looking frills atop their heads. They both had small ridges on their shoulders and a red zigzag stripe around their midsections. They also had long skinny tails, curled up into a helix shape. They looked virtually identical save for the fact that one was a greenish color while the other was purple.

Then Oshawott noticed with a start that the design of the shop itself, pattern and all, looked like the heads of these two Pokémon, cut in half and put together; green on one side and purple on the other. He also noticed that the green one was standing on the green side of the store, while the purple one was naturally standing on the purple side.

Likely they were the shopkeepers. They both looked to be in conversation with one another. They must've noticed them approaching however, because they immediately cut off whatever it was they were saying and put on bright smiles directed at their guests.

"Ah, customers!" one of them, the green one, stated enthusiastically.

"Welcome, welcome!" the other one said with equal enthusiasm, gesturing the pair closer. As they came up to the counter, both of the reptilian Pokémon's eyes suddenly narrowed as they leaned slightly over the counter, inspecting the new arrivals.

"I don't believe I've seen either of you around town before…" the green one said with a slight hint of suspicion.

"What might your names be?" the purple one asked, in nearly the same voice as the first.

Whereas Oshawott was somewhat intimidated under their gaze, Snivy seemed unperturbed. "Hi there!" she greeted them disarmingly. "My name is Snivy, and this here is my friend Oshawott. We're new around here, yeah. We actually arrived just yesterday."

"Is that right…" both of the other Pokémon muttered in unison. They still had that suspicious glare in their eyes…but after a moment it was gone, replaced by welcoming smiles.

"Well then, allow us to formally welcome you to Post Town!" said the green one.

"It's always good to see new faces and new customers!" added the purple one.

"Thanks!" Snivy said with her own smile. "What're your names?"

Both of the Pokémon placed an arm over the other's shoulder in a friendly fashion before answering. "We're the Kecleon Brothers!" they announced loudly, again in unison, while gesturing to one another. Then they brought out their arms to gesture at the building as a whole. "Proud owners of the Kecleon Shop!"

"And while both of us are Kecleon, in both name and species…" the green one began.

"That can be a bit confusing for some, even to us at times, so the good townsfolk like to refer to us simply as Green and Purple," the purple one continued.

"And we accept these nicknames graciously. You can likely guess who's who," the green one, now named Green, finished.

Snivy looked at each of them in turn. "Green and Purple…got it! Nice to meet you!"

"The pleasure is all ours!" Green and Purple replied together. Green then said by himself, "If I may ask, where are the two of you currently residing?"

Snivy tilted her head back down the direction of the road. "We bought some nearby land from the landlord yesterday. Just on the opposite side of the crossroad from Post Town. We plan on building a house out there…"

Purple scratched his chin. "Other side of the crossroad…? Aren't you referring to that cra-…" he received a look from his brother, at which he hastily chose a different descriptive word. "…I mean lovely area of…err…wasteland?" He just shrugged at his brother while Snivy nodded excitedly.

"Yup! That's the place! I admit it isn't much to look at right now…but we're planning on building up a Paradise over there."

This seemed to catch the brothers' interest. "Oh? A…Paradise, you say?" Green inquired.

"Yeah!" Snivy affirmed. "It'll be a Pokémon Paradise, full of all kinds of facilities and services for adventurers! I'll make a bunch of friends, and we'll all work together to make the greatest Paradise ever!" she stopped when she saw their looks. "Uh…maybe that sounds a bit childish…"

"No, no, most certainly no! Not at all!" Green assured with a wave of his hands and a smile.

"Indeed. I think it sounds like a marvelous idea!" Purple said. "This Paradise of yours sounds like just what we need around here, what with all of the irate attitudes and negative atmosphere…"

"I agree!" Green put in. "And something like a Paradise like you're describing would surely attract many a traveling Pokémon, which in turn would mean more Pokémon stopping in Post Town, which _in turn _means more customers at our shop!"

Purple nodded. "Certainly! Snivy, Oshawott, I support your efforts wholeheartedly!"

Green mimicked his brother's actions. "As do I! We wish you both the best of luck in your endeavors!"

"Thanks." Oshawott chose to step in and say something himself. "So…you two run this place together then?" he asked, even though it had kinda already been said. Fortunately, the brothers didn't seem the least bit annoyed by this question; in fact, they both seemed quite happy.

"Oh yes, of course!" Green answered. "My brother and I take great pride in our selection of merchandise!"

"You won't find better goods or better prices this side of the region, I assure you!" Purple put in, doing the typical salesperson self-advertisement. Then he shrugged. "Well…not legally, anyways."

"But that is neither here nor there!" Green quickly interjected. "No matter what your needs, be it normal goods or special wares, me and my brother are happy to assist!"

"Yes indeed! Though lately, as travelers are getting more sparse, our shelves have been somewhat…bare," Purple admitted reluctantly, rubbing his arm.

"Oh, honestly brother…" Green sighed as he put his hands on his sides. "You have almost no grasp of the business language. How are we supposed to inspire confidence in our shop when you go about blurting things like that?"

"I'm only being truthful to our customers, brother," Purple answered, crossing his arms. "And you know it's true, we were discussing this very issue not two minutes ago."

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Green countered. "It's only _you're _merchandise that is lacking. _My _shelves are relatively well-stocked."

"Really?" Purple asked with an annoyed expression. "I wasn't aware that you'd started selling dust."

"Umm, pardon?" Oshawott cut in, hoping to stop what looked like the beginning of a public family feud.

It seemed to work. Both brothers looked down in surprise, having somehow forgotten about their visitors. Both immediately regained their composure.

"Oh, yes. Please excuse us," Green apologized with a slight bow of his head.

"So then, newest customers, how may we assist you?" Purple asked, donning his metaphorical business cap. "Are you searching for goods or wares? Possibly both?"

Oshawott looked at them in confusion. "Uh…there's a difference?"

This simple question seemed to make the two brothers temporarily speechless. A few moments later, they both burst into laughter. "Oh, good one friend! You had me going there for a moment!" Green said first.

"Every Pokémon knows the difference between goods and wares!" Purple said, still chuckling. "Surely you do…"

As Oshawott remained silent and continued staring at them, they both slowly stopped laughing, then stopped smiling, as their eyes got wider (considering these were lizards, it was quite the image).

"You…don't?" Purple asked, like he was afraid of the question.

Snivy quickly jumped in, wrapping an arm around Oshawott's shoulders. "Uh, my friend here isn't really from around these parts…" she tried to explain for him, only slightly hinting at the truth. "And, to be honest, I myself am not very familiar with the local business customs…if you could, err…elaborate a bit for us?"

Both Kecleon exchanged a look with one another. "Well…" Green started.

"… I suppose it wouldn't be a problem," Purple finished. He cleared his throat. "Right then…how should we explain this…"

"Allow me to begin, brother. You may take the reins when you see fit." Green took a small step forward and began. "There are two main types of merchandise here at the Kecleon Shop; goods and wares. My brother and I each handle one of those two things. I deal in goods, which generally consists of clothing, such as scarves, bands, glasses, etcetera, as well as food items, such as fruit, berries, seeds, and so on."

"And I am in charge of wares!" Purple said, taking a step forward while Green simultaneously took a step back. "I regularly stock utility-based items, mainly Wonder Orbs and TMs, though I have been known to occasionally get my hands on some rarer merchandise, such as evolution stones, Dungeon Keys, and the odd trinket or two. And that's basically it. Not at all complicated. Now then…"

Green stepped in once more. "With all of that out of the way, what would you like to purchase today? Oh, that rhymed!" He added, chuckling lightly to himself.

Snivy, however, became nervous as she started shifting around on her feet. "Umm…actually, we don't…eh…have any Poké on us at the moment. Like I said, we just got here yesterday, and…well, we haven't really saved up any money beyond what we needed to buy the land," she explained, with a bashful glance at Oshawott toward the end.

Oshawott thought he saw disappointment pass over the two brothers' features as they concurrently muttered, "Oh…".

But it was gone in an instant, replaced with bright, albeit somewhat strained, smiles. "It's quite alright," Purple said understandingly, waving the issue aside with his hand. "I understand completely. Times are rather hard as of late…"

"Not that we're implying anything!" Green added hastily. "I'm sure that the two of you will be able to replenish your coin pouches 'ere too long. In the meantime however, allow us to extend to you our complimentary one-time-only free selection, which we bestow upon all of our new, regular customers!"

Purple looked confused at this proclamation. "Brother…?"

Green quickly silenced his brother by nudging him (rather forcefully) in the arm. Then he leaned over the counter and added, "The two of you _do _plan to be regular customers, yes?"

Snivy responded quickly. "Of course! I mean, this does look like the only store in Post Town…"

Green ignored the last part, clapping his hands together. "Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! If you will just wait here a minute…" With that, Green backed away and disappeared through the opening into the structure behind him, from where the rest of those present could easily hear the sounds of him shuffling through his supplies. After a few moments passed, Oshawott decided to say something.

"This isn't actually a regular service he provides all new customers, is it?" he asked Purple, who was just standing there with a semi-bewildered look on his face. The Kecleon sighed and shook his head no.

"It isn't," he answered, keeping his voice down. "I think he might just be trying to get into your good graces so that you'll return. Common business tactic. But hey, you'll both be getting free merchandise."

Neither Snivy or Oshawott could argue with that logic.

Green returned after another minute, his arms filled with a variety of different clothing items. Normally Oshawott would have questioned the idea of Pokémon wearing clothes (and at the same time, suddenly became very aware of the fact that he wasn't wearing any himself), but these looked more like simple accessory things than full-blown articles of clothing. Green set out a collection of different bows, headbands, scarves, ribbons, and even a couple pairs of glasses onto the counter. "Here we are!" he proclaimed once he was done, gesturing at the assortment with a sweep of his arm. "Our selection of complimentary items, hand-chosen by yours truly for a pair of young adventurers! Go ahead and choose! You may both pick one each, absolutely free of charge!"

Snivy appeared a bit hesitant. "Umm…are you sure?"

Green nodded just a bit _too _quickly. "Certainly! We do this for all new customers! _Right, _brother?" he added, nudging Purple in the arm a bit.

"Err…of course! Our, eh…complimentary items for our newest customers! Do it all the time!" he said after a momentary pause.

Though both Oshawott and Snivy knew the truth, they were both nonetheless grateful towards the two brothers. Snivy visibly more so. (And for different reasons, mind you. She was used to not wearing anything, after all.)

"Wow…thank you!" she expressed to them as she strode up and began perusing the selection laid out before her. After a moment, Oshawott did the same, standing next to her as his eyes scanned over the countertop.

There were quite a few interesting-looking pieces. The scarves, which he looked at first, were of varying lengths, thickness, and colors, some of them even looking more like bandanas than typical scarves. He picked up a couple of them to test out their feels, but ultimately decided against each of them; walking around with a scarf around his neck wasn't really his style, especially since it was rather warm out. The bands were a more likely candidate. Like the scarves, they were all quite varied in design. One of them, an orange one with a straight red line through it, caught his eye. He picked it up and, after receiving permission from the brothers, put it on.

He was immediately shocked by what he felt. Just as he slipped the band over his forehead, his whole body was filled with the strangest sensation. He suddenly felt…stronger. Like…physically stronger. Like somehow putting on that headband had made his muscles grow slightly. He found it to be a very startling and uncomfortable feeling, however, so he quickly took it off and put it back onto the counter. Whatever the deal was with those bands, he wasn't going to be picking any of them. With that in mind, he continued browsing the merchandise…until his eyes came to settle upon one object in particular. It was a bowtie- -the only one present among the otherwise typical, and rather feminine-looking, bows. He initially passed it over, since he'd never worn a bowtie himself before, but he kept coming back to it. There was something different about it, he thought…of course, it was visibly different from the surrounding bows in that, while the others all had a specific color and pattern to them, this one was completely plain and white. There was something else about it, however…Oshawott found himself curiously picking it up and turning it over in his hands, inspecting it closely. The brothers must've seen his expression, because one of them spoke.

"Ah, interested in that one, are you?" Green asked in that excited tone. "That particular bow is rather special, you know. Very old. It's been sitting on my shelves for…goodness, I forget how long. Nearly since we first opened up the shop, I believe. They're no longer in production, unfortunately, due to them being rather difficult to make and very few Pokémon actually showing an interest in them."

Oshawott looked at him in confusion. "Difficult?" He held up the completely plain looking bowtie. "I can maybe understand the lack of interest, but how is this difficult to make?"

"Oh no, you are judging it based on its appearance," Purple answered for his brother. "It is not due to its design, but rather its abilities, that this type of bow is hard to produce. Am I correct, brother?"

"You most certainly are, brother," Green said with a smile. "Yes, this bow, along with all others like it, has a very particular effect on its wearer."

"What effect? What do you mean?" Oshawott asked, only growing more confused. "Does it make hair grow faster or something?"

Both Kecleon Brothers broke into laughter at this, from which Green recovered first. "No, no, nothing like that. You'll know what it does when you put it on…" Oshawott was about to do just that when he continued. "_But, _I'm afraid it is because of this that I cannot allow you to put it on unless you are going to choose it for yourself. I'm sorry, but that's just how it is."

Oshawott chose not to inquire about this strange rule, instead taking the next few moments to carefully look at the bowtie in his hands. It really was nothing special, by the looks of it. Still, he somehow found himself drawn towards it. Not only that, but the brothers said that it had some sort of special effect on its wearer…one that he'd know as soon as he put it on, but wasn't allowed to put on unless he chose to keep the bow as his item. And he wasn't exactly doubting them, since that band he'd put on had had some kind of effect on him itself. He had to admit, he was curious as to what exactly this thing did. Assuming it did anything and the brothers weren't just trying to get rid of it, of course. Besides, nothing else on the counter really caught his fancy.

He smiled. "Alright, I'll take it."

Both of the brothers grinned. "Wonderful!" Green exclaimed. "As I said, it's yours, free of charge! Now feel free to put it on. I'm quite curious to see how it _looks_ on you."

"As am I," said Purple. Both brothers gazed at him expectantly.

So, not seeing any reason to delay, Oshawott brought the bowtie up to the scruffy ring of bubble-esque feature around his neck and put it in the appropriate spot, surprised at how it just stayed in placed despite his not wearing anything else to keep it from falling off.

Then he _really _got surprised. Only a few seconds after he put it on, the bowtie started to glow. Bright white at first, then it suddenly began emanating a huge multitude of different colors, alternating between them every quarter second that passed. Oshawott identified colors such as red, yellow, green, pink, orange, and blue, along with a dozen other more specific colors such as mint, viridian, fuchsia, and more that he didn't have time to identify. As this was happening, he also felt something strange…very strange…like…somehow, the bow was…becoming attached to him. Not physically, like he wouldn't be able to take it off, but more like…it was becoming a part of him. Separate from his body, yet still part of him. It was a difficult sensation to describe.

This continued for about 20 more seconds, when the shifting colors began to slow down. They became less varied, more focused on the color blue…or some shade or variation of it, anyways. Eventually, the bow stopped changing color altogether, settling on a darker shade of blue. It was still glowing, but even that soon faded. When it was all over, the bow had somehow transitioned colors completely, and now somehow just looked…less plain than it did before.

The Kecleon Brothers both began clapping. "Bravo!" said Green. "So it turned into a Cobalt Bow! That was quite interesting to watch, I must say!"

"What just happened?" Oshawott asked, not looking up from the bow, which had him mesmerized with just how connected he felt toward it.

"Ah, yes." Green cleared his throat. "Well you see, that bow there is what we call an Aura Bow. It is extremely unique in that it absorbs the aura, or spiritual energy, of whoever wears it. A very small amount, mind. Just enough so that two things happen. One, it changes appearance, becoming the same color as the aura of whoever wears it. And two, it becomes permanently attuned to that specific aura, and by extension, the one wielding that aura. That is why I couldn't let you put it on unless you were sure you wanted it, you see. It has more-or-less become a part of you, as it now has your aura within it. As such, its effects only work for you."

Oshawott managed to look up from the strange piece of apparel. "What effects?"

"Well, to my knowledge, Aura Bows are capable of slightly raising the stats of those who wear them, to varying amounts depending on the individual. Of course, on anyone other than the one who originally wore it, the bow is basically useless, which may be why they didn't sell very well. Once you put it on, you were essentially stuck with it for life. But yes, the bow acts as a sort of slight upgrade to your base stats, complimenting your abilities with its own."

"That's awesome, Oshawott!" Snivy said from next to him, suddenly reminding that she was there, as she had been quiet throughout the entire process. She excitedly turned back toward the counter and began rummaging through the items. "Are there any more of those Aura Bows here? I kinda want one now!"

"Unfortunately, no. That was the only Aura Bow I had in stock, I'm sad to say." Green said solemnly.

Snivy looked down in disappointment. "Oh…okay…"

"Fret not, dear Snivy!" Purple jumped in. "There are still plenty of other items for you to choose from, each with unique effects of their own. Ooh, might I make a suggestion, if it is alright with you?"

Snivy looked up curiously. "What do you have in mind?"

Purple picked up one of the bows and allowed Snivy to look at it. This one, like the others, was a normal feminine-looking bow, with hollow spaces where the material looped around. However, this bow was of a unique lime color with yellow embroidering, almost matching…

"Well? Very nice, is it not? I think it goes wonderfully with your appearance!" Purple told Snivy, evidently pleased with himself for picking it out. "This here is a Coalition Bow. It is only useful to Pokémon traveling with a companion or companions, you see, as it has the ability to raise the wearer's awareness of their partners' intentions, letting you become more in sync with them as time goes on. Like the Aura Bow, Coalition Bows are also supposedly very difficult to make, though these are actually quite popular with adventurers and exploration teams."

Snivy appeared enthralled by the bow being presented to her, much like Oshawott had been with his own. In an instant, she snatched it up and placed it on her neck, in the same spot where Oshawott wore his own small bowtie. It looked quite nice on her, he had to admit…and already, he somehow felt…closer to her. It was strange. All of these items were strange, come to think of it.

Snivy grinned. "Yeah, I'll take it!"

"And that makes two!" Green announced, picking up the remaining items one by one. "Well now, I hope you two enjoy your new items."

"Very good choices, no doubt about that!" put in Purple.

"Yeah, thank you again! This was really nice of you!" Snivy said, smiling radiantly.

"Oh, it was nothing at all, Snivy. Anything for our customers," Green told her as he picked up the last of the items and started back into the shop.

Snivy looked around a bit. "Well, I guess we'd better check out the rest of the town, huh Oshawott?" she asked.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Alright, so we'll be going now. Thanks again, you two."

"Yeah, really. Alright, bye!" Snivy called out as she and Oshawott turned and started off, happy that they'd already made friends out of the town shopkeepers.

"Have a pleasant day!" Purple called out after them.

"And come back soon!" called Green over his shoulder.

"Aaahh…what a nice pair of kids," sighed Purple to his brother. "Don't you agree?"

"Indeed," smiled Green. "Though I really hope they don't forget to come back once they have some Poké to spend. Those two bows weren't cheap, you know. And these days, we need every paying customer we can get."

"Oh? So you admit that you are also in a bind as far as funds and stock goes?"

"... ... ...hush, you."

* * *

After their visit to the Kecleon Shop, the duo of Oshawott and Snivy, with their new accessories, went around and checked out a few more services around town. Or they would have, if most of the other shops hadn't been closed for one reason or another.

Speaking of shops, Oshawott was noticing a theme here. Almost all of the shop buildings were dome-shaped and more-or-less modeled on the appearance of the Pokémon running the shop itself. It was an odd feature, to be sure, but it did succeed in adding an air of uniqueness to each individual shop.

Down south from the Kecleon Shop was a shop painted black and a blue roof. The shopkeeper there was a large, dark-grey, rather intimidating dinosaur-like Pokémon. He had a blue stripe on his tail and one blue stripe on each of his knees and wrists, as well as a blue collar around his neck and a huge, dome-shaped head that seemed to partially obstruct his two completely red eyes. In addition to all of that, there was an abundance of spikes on his body. He had a spike on each knee, two spikes on the collar, four head spikes near the top of his skull, two of which were bigger than the other two, and two more short spikes on his nose.

The Pokémon had introduced himself as Rampardos the Box Buster. Whatever that was supposed to mean, Oshawott didn't know. Something about treasure boxes. In any case, according to him, his shop was currently closed due to it being in need of repairs. Apparently he'd accidentally busted it up too much while he was working. Oshawott was curious as to exactly what job he had involving boxes that had resulted in him wrecking the inside of his store, but whatever. Moving on.

Just across from Rampardos' shop was a building colored grey and white, with two large objects on the sides of it that were also grey, but painted red in the centers, resembling ears. There were also two windows in the area where eyes would be on a head…

And sure enough, the owner of that particular shop ended up looking kinda like the shop itself. This time it was a female, and a cute furry chinchilla-like Pokémon that was primarily grey in color, with areas of long white fur. She had large ears, located to the sides of her head, with red insides partly covered by tufts of the aforementioned fur. Her eyes were large and brown, with a small, rounded nose. Her limbs were also somewhat rounded and small, and her tail was long, fluffy, and incredibly white in color. She also had two large long fluffs of white on her head that wrapped around her back. She even had some long fur around her neck that she appeared to be using as a scarf.

This Pokémon introduced herself as Cinccino, the owner of the Gift Shop. That was much more straightforward, and it was easy for Oshawott to guess at her business. Unfortunately, it seemed that she was also closed. She claimed to have recently run out of wrapping material, and was currently awaiting her next shipment. Nevertheless, she was very kind, and both Snivy and Oshawott promised to come back once she reopened.

The last major shop they stopped by was arguably the strangest one yet. Well, the shop itself wasn't strange…more like the Pokémon running it. And the Pokémon himself hadn't really been strange…he was flat-out creepy.

The shop stood across the river from the town square, noticeably isolated from all of the hustle and bustle. It was only by chance that Oshawott had even spotted it, catching a faint gleam of gold in the sunlight that had drawn his attention. And yes, the shop was colored gold. Not just painted gold either. It looked as though it had been literally constructed out of the metal. Of course, there were also patterns of blue on the structure. It was designed in such a strange way, though. Unlike the other shops, this one didn't look like the head of a shopkeeper. In fact, there didn't look like there even _was _ a shopkeeper when they first approached . The shop instead looked like the top of the Egyptian-sarcophagus-looking object with flamboyant patterns upon it that was just sitting there in the doorway to the shop. It would've been extremely out-of-place were it not for the design of the building.

That was when things started to get bizarre and creepy. As the two of them got closer to the shop, they both could've sworn they felt a chill on their backs. Nevertheless, they continued, curious as to why this shop was so secluded from the rest.

They soon found out. Just as they drew close, still thinking that the sarcophagus there was just a strange choice of decoration…it suddenly moved. The sarcophagus moved. Were he not in a world that he'd previously dismissed as purely fantasy, Oshawott might not have been scared out of his wits when he saw it repeatedly bounce and shake around. But right then he had seriously been afraid that a mummy would jump out at them. But none did. Instead, something even worse happened. Slowly, torturously, two adjacent parts on the upper part of the coffin slid apart from one another, revealing darkness within…and then two glowing, menacing red eyes gleamed from within the darkness, followed by the emergence of a taunting smile with no lips, composed solely of sharp white fangs. Then, the icing on the cake; the whole thing started to glow, and suddenly four long, ebony hands that looked like they were made of shadows merged from the sides of the sarcophagus as it rose into the air and began laughing.

The next part was what really terrified Oshawott and Snivy; the thing _spoke. _The sarcophagus started speaking to them as though it were casually greeting some customers. Lo and behold, it actually was.

The Pokémon (as it turned out to be one) introduced himself as Cofagrigus, owner of Glorious Gold, a gold exchange shop. He seemed quite fascinated with gold as he talked…a bit _too _fascinated in fact. Like he was obsessed with it or something. He also had a habit of shouting out "GLORIOUS" whenever the word came up in his speech. Anyways, his reason for being closed at the moment wasn't like Rampardos' and Cinccino's. Apparently, Cofagrigus had just recently started up his business here in Post Town, and was still getting things ready. Regardless, he made a point of reminding the pair not to sell any gold bars they should happen to find…as in he came very close to openly threatening them, using a very malicious, creepy voice for the action.

Needless to say, Oshawott and Snivy wasted no time in getting out of there.

It was when they hastily crossed the bridge back into the town square that they bumped into Quagsire. Literally. They both fell back onto the ground while Quagsire, who'd had his back turned, slowly turned around to face them.

"Hmm, you two… Good timing," Quagsire said, not really bothering to help them get up. He turned toward something and pointed. "Those two Timburr over there are the carpenter's, mmm, apprentices."

Oshawott and Snivy followed where he was pointing at and saw them. Two Pokémon who looked to be of the same species, conversing with one another just outside of the inn. They were bipedal, mainly grey Pokémon. They had dark purple noses and bulbous protrusions extending from the front and lower parts of their heads. Pinkish, vein-like bulges were present on the back of their heads, and similar pink bands adorned their shoulders and thighs. Both Timburr also carried a large piece of…well, timber, in their arms. The way their small bodies were easily hefting the huge pieces of wood close to their bodies implied that they were both very muscular and strong, despite their appearance. Like the Kecleon Brothers, these two were virtually identical in appearance, though the difference was much harder to make out from far away; one of them had a very shaggy-looking dome-piece, while the other's was very neatly kept.

"You should ask them about your house, hmm?" Quagsire said as he started approaching them. Snivy and Oshawott shared a look and followed, just as Quagsire began speaking to the two supposed apprentices.

"Hmm, lads?" he said, getting their attention. They both turned to look at him as he continued. "Where's your, mmm, master?" he asked, straight to the point. One of the Timburr however, the one with the neatly kept hair-resembling feature, just looked at him in confusion.

"What? Our 'master'?" he asked, in a surprisingly cool and intelligent-sounding voice. "Do you mean…the boss?"

The other Timburr, the shaggier one, then spoke up, his voice being more expected and slang-sounding. "If you're lookin' for the boss, he's inside…" he said, tilting his head toward the entrance to the inn.

Snivy stepped forward. "You're 'boss' is the carpenter, right?" she asked. "We want to build a house. Could you take us to meet your boss?"

The Timburr both looked at one another for a few moments, as though wordlessly deciding what to do…then they both nodded and looked at Snivy. "We certainly can," said the well-spoken Timburr.

"C'mon then. Don't dawdle or nothin'," said the other one.

"Oh, and by the way…" the first one said. "If you like, you can just call me Timburr. My friend here likes to be called 'Timbuh',".

"Tha's my name, don't wear it out," Timbuh said with a roll of his shoulders.

"It isn't a very noticeable distinction, I'll admit," Timburr continued, "But at least it differentiates us."

"Alright then. Timburr, Timbuh," Snivy said, nodding to both of them in turn. "My name is Snivy, and this is my friend Oshawott."

"'Sup?" Oshawott greeted them after his introduction.

"Nice to meetcha," Timbuh returned. "Now then, let's go in, eh? Like I said, don't dawdle."

With that, both Timburr and Timbuh proceeding into the inn. Quagsire turned to face Oshawott and Snivy, a satisfied smile on his face. "Hmm, looks good. Good luck with the carpenter, hmm? I'll be waiting out here, hmm?"

"Yeah! Thanks!" Snivy said. Quagsire then went off to the side, allowing the two of them to pass as they followed Timburr and Timbuh into the inn to meet this "boss" of theirs.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_I have a couple of things to say here.

First of all: yes, I know in the game there was only one Kecleon running the shop, but I always hated that. And I mean _HATED _it. I love the Kecleon Brothers and their antics, which is why I included them in this story. I find that there is much more I can do with two Kecleon as opposed to just one, which you all saw with the shop scene.

Second: Yes, I know Aura Bows only existed in Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, but I really liked those, and I felt that Oshawott needed his own signature item that wasn't a generic Power Band or something. I also turned the Coalition Scarf into a Coalition Bow and gave it to Snivy. Problem? Deal with it. Female Snivy looks better wearing a bow than she does in a scarf.

That's about it. Now then: READER QUESTION!

Try and guess the hidden secret behind the personalities I gave to the Kecleon Brothers.

'Till next time! SCI here, signing out!


End file.
